‘Mad cow disease’ fear over relaxation of feed rules
Lifting a ban on feeding meat to animals could raise the spectre of “mad cow disease” and hit public confidence in the safety of British beef, farmers warned yesterday. The European Commission (EC) is considering easing rules introduced to combat the spread of BSE 20 years ago to allow feed containing animal proteins. It wants to reduce the cost of guarding against the disease, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and its human form, Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (CJD), which has claimed 169 British lives since 1995. In a consultation document, the Commission claimed the changes would be based on sound science and would reduce farmers’ dependency on crop-based alternatives and their volatile foreign markets. But the report admitted it was “impossible” to remove all risk of the disease entering the food chain
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