Japan has confirmed that it has identified a 14th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease, in that country. It is the second case to be found in just a month.
The announcement comes as the US and Japan negotiate over the possible relaxation of the Japanese ban on US beef imports, imposed when a single case of mad cow disease was found in the US. Japanese officials have been concerned that the US testing standards don’t live up to the Japanese standard; in Japan, every cow is tested, while in the US, only 40,000 out of 36 million cattle are expected to be tested this year.
The announcement comes as the US and Japan negotiate over the possible relaxation of the Japanese ban on US beef imports, imposed when a single case of mad cow disease was found in the US. Japanese officials have been concerned that the US testing standards don’t live up to the Japanese standard; in Japan, every cow is tested, while in the US, only 40,000 out of 36 million cattle are expected to be tested this year.
- KC's View:
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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again.
The math doesn’t add up to smart policy. Japan tests every cow, and finds 14 cases to date. We test a small fraction of our cows, and remain convinced that only one cow in the entire country was infected.
Sorry. We’re not buying.
