Japan might consider imports of younger US cattle

Japan's food safety panel said yesterday it would recommend waiving mad cow disease tests for cattle younger than 21 months -- a step that could lead to the resumption of US beef imports and head off threats of trade sanctions by US lawmakers.

Tokyo has tested all cattle for the disease since discovering its first case of the fatal bovine illness in 2001. After the US' discovery of its first mad cow case in 2003, Japan shut its market to US beef and demanded that Washington also adopt blanket testing for its herds.

The food safety panel endorsed an assessment made last month by the panel's scientific experts about the safety of a US proposal exempting cows younger than 21 months from tests. The experts found that the risk of young animals becoming infected with the brain-wasting disease was extremely small.

The ruling allows the government to approve the resumption of US beef imports, but a final decision could take months.

Japan's agriculture and health ministries will now review the panel's recommendations and hold public hearings in mid-May to explore the possibility of permitting US beef, Nakamura said.

Afterward, the food safety panel will consider whether it's safe to reopen Japan's markets to US beef and the ministries will host another round of public hearings, agriculture ministry official Hiroaki Ogura said.