December 1, 2000
		Europe's Mad Cow Panic Reaches New Height This week has pushed the festering worries about the safety of beef into the forefront as panic moves from one European Union member state to the next. The recent uproar started with the disclosure by the French government that the incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-diseased cows was on the rise, and some beef that was suspected to be contaminated with BSE was found on supermarket shelves. More than 100 cases of diseased cows were reported this year in France, compared with 31 last year. Emotions soared after a television documentary showed a young French victim, a dying boy who is emaciated and unable to recognize anyone. Next, Germany admitted that a BSE-diseased cow was found in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, bringing on a flurry of criticism from the German newspapers, which criticized political leaders for falsely assuring the public that Germany was free of BSE. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote: "They made fools out of us with long-winded promises that Germany is safe." Newspaper Welt am Sonntag concurred. "We believed the nonsense the white-washers told us. There probably isn't any safe haven in Europe anymore." A hotline set up to answer questions from the German public about BSE collapsed because the system was overloaded from too many calls. The chief cause of concern is the link between the consumption of BSE-contaminated beef and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, both of which are brain-wasting, fatal diseases. Last year, Germany rejected legislation that proposed stricter restrictions on the animal parts that could be released into the food and feed chain, despite their higher risk of carrying the disease. Germany now admits that perhaps a dozen of the country's 15 million cows might be infected with the highly contagious disease. According to a poll conducted for the weekly Die Woche, nearly one-third of Germans no longer want to eat beef and 82 percent believe the government should have done more to prevent the spread of the disease. France and Germany are not alone with their troubles. Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have all had incidents of BSE-infected cows. "Mad cow disease knows no borders but is moving from one member state to another," said Franz Fischler, the European Union agricultural minister. Beef wholesalers throughout Europe report a drop in sales of about 50 percent. Europeans have also taken to inspecting cosmetics and candy for beef-based gelatin. Additionally, butchers in Athens have threatened to close their shops unless they were assured that the beef was not tainted with BSE and Italian celebrities have gone on television, sharing vegetarian recipes. "It is as if we were suddenly facing the bubonic plague," said Roman butcher Pietro Stecchiotti. "Is it the cows, or have we gone mad?" The subject is dominating headlines throughout Europe, where many countries are banning each other's beef. Earlier this week, Italian farmers blockaded the French-Italian border, inspecting French trucks for banned meat and animal feed. In Spain, official reassurances of the safety of its been have fallen largely upon deaf ears. Within days after it was disclosed that a cow had been identified with BSE, the meat industry was seriously affected. Slaughterhouses and packing plants have reported a 70 percent decline in beef production. Manuel Garcia, secretary-general of the meat-packers association, Aprosa, said exports were "practically paralyzed." Russia, which usually imports 600 tons of Spanish beef weekly, has closed its borders, as have Poland and Brazil. Andrea Fischer, German Health Minister, admitted that the government was not upfront in dealing with the likelihood that despite its claims, Germany was not free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). "We deluded ourselves in Germany," said Fischer. David Byrne, the European Union (EU) commissioner for consumer affairs, had criticized the German government for failing to implement more stringent meat hygiene rules, told Die Welt newspaper that there would be more cases of BSE reported soon. "I share the opinion that there will be other infections," Byrne was quoted as saying. The discovery of the BSE-infected cow in Schleswig-Holstein, in addition to an exported German cow suffering from the brain-wasting disease, has undermined German consumer confidence in government claims that the disease would stop at its borders. Harry Kretschmer, a Berlin butcher, said: "I didn't sell a single piece of beef on Saturday. There are usually about 100 customers in here every day." Edmund Stoiber, state premier of Bavaria, said: "It is disgraceful the way the government put commerce ahead of the public's safety." Albert Osterhaus, a member of the EU veterinary committee told Der Spiegel magazine that there was a likelihood that several dozen infected German cows were not yet exhibiting symptoms of the disease. In similar news, in Athens butchers banned the sale of beef after demanding that meat and animal feed undergo more rigorous checks for BSE. Health inspectors had confiscated 50 tons of livestock feed suspected to be contaminated with animal products.