Print

Mail

wiki links

US, Japan hold new round of beef ban talks

Japan and the US held a new round of talks yesterday on mad cow testing standards as the trading partners try to untangle a four-month dispute that has shut American beef out of its most lucrative export market.

At the first such meeting since January, officials were reportedly set to agree to a new structure for pursuing negotiations but weren't expected to break a deadlock over whether US testing standards are adequate.

A series of visiting US delegations have failed to persuade Japan's government to lift a ban imposed on American beef imports after a single case of mad cow disease was detected in Washington state in late December.

Japan has said it will not resume imports unless the US requires all 35 million cattle it slaughters annually to be tested for mad cow disease. US agriculture officials say there's no scientific reason to test every animal.

Media reports said the two sides would agree at yesterday's meeting to set up an experts group to discuss testing methods and other technical issues related to the trade tussle.

Japanese officials started the talks by stating that ensuring consumers' safety was the prerequisite for letting US beef back in, national broadcaster NHK said.

The US trade delegation was led by US Agriculture Undersecretary J.B. Penn.

Japan's small beef industry adopted a policy of testing every cow slaughtered after an outbreak of mad cow disease here in 2001. The US plans to test at least 220,000 cattle by the end of 2005 under an expanded surveillance program targeting animals over 30 months old, and others deemed most at risk.

Japan has refused to accept a US proposal for international mediation on the ban. The proposal called for both nations to present arguments before a panel of the World Organization for Animal Health.

People who eat beef tainted by the aberrant protein that causes mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, can contract a rare but fatal variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Japan was the most lucrative market for US beef before the import ban, buying almost US$1 billion worth in 2002.
This story has been viewed 1956 times.