EU Eases British Beef Ban; London to Keep Up Fight

The European Union partly lifted a ban on British beef Wednesday, but the action failed to defuse Britain’s “mad cow” war against its closest trading partners.

European Commission President Jacques Santer told Union leaders in Brussels that he hoped the action would lead Britain to abandon its policy of blocking all measures before EU bodies in protest against the ban.

But Britain indicated that its offensive will continue until the export limits are fully lifted, although Associated Press quoted British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind on Wednesday night as saying that Britain will not block a proposal next week to grant Slovenia associate status in the EU.

British delegates have vetoed about 40 EU measures in the past 10 days. Most have involved cooperative ventures that Britain openly backed before the beef war, which was sparked by suspicions--not proven--that the disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in British cattle may be linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal human brain illness.

Meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, the 20-member European Commission voted to allow the export of bull semen and the beef derivatives tallow and gelatin. Exporting companies will have to adhere to strict EU guidelines.

“The commission decision is fully and exclusively based on scientific data, guaranteeing public health,” Santer told the European Parliament.

He also said that Britain’s obstruction policy has violated “both the letter and spirit of the [EU] treaty.”

Wednesday’s commission vote was presaged Monday night by a 9-6 decision by EU agriculture ministers to relax the prohibition. Opposition from Germany, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium forced the commission vote.

Technically, exports could resume next week, but EU officials said the process will take much longer than that. German Health Minister Horst Seehofer said Tuesday that Germany will maintain its ban at least until the fall, although under EU regulations it cannot legally block a German company from buying derivatives once exports resume.

Britain this week presented European ministers with a 121-page document detailing its plans to eradicate BSE, including promises to keep cattle at highest risk out of the food chain into the 21st century.

The plan promises a certificate showing the life history of each animal. If the animal develops BSE, the government will trace and slaughter other animals it had been in contact with.

About 65% of the dairy herds and 15% of the beef herds in Britain have experienced BSE, which they are believed to have contracted from eating feed containing parts of infected sheep.

Rifkind and Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg visited Germany and France on Wednesday to woo support for the British plan.

According to the British government, which is under fierce domestic pressure over its handling of a crisis that erupted March 20, the number of BSE cases is dropping. More than 160,000 animals have contracted the disease in a decade, with a 1992 peak of 36,681. There are expected to be around 8,000 cases this year, and 1,000 by the year 2000, the government says.

The next EU step, Britain says, should be a relaxing of bans on embryos, newborn calves and beef from isolated grass-fed herds, mostly in Scotland and Northern Ireland.