Japan Considers BSE Testing Of All Slaughtered Cattle Born In 1996 | Japan’...
Published: Aug 29, 2003
Japan Considers BSE Testing Of All Slaughtered
Cattle Born In 1996
Japan’s Agriculture Ministry is considering mandatory bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) testing of the brain tissue of all domestic cattle born in 1996. All four Japanese BSE cases were born in March or April 1996. The ministry estimates that about 26,000 cows born in those two months in 1996 are still alive on Japanese farms.
So far, only partial BSE testing has been conducted, on animals showing symptoms of BSE.
Japan's Health Ministry wants all cattle that die of illness to undergo BSE testing.
From mid-October to the beginning of May Japan has tested 267 animals, a small fraction of the number of cattle which die from illness.