EU Proposes End to Ban on Beef

The European Commission proposed lifting restrictions on mainland British beef exports, signaling the end of a crippling trade ban imposed more than two years ago over “mad cow” disease. European regulators did not immediately repeal the ban, however, so the optimism that surged through Britain’s cattle country was tempered by recognition that the battered market has no chance of bouncing back immediately. The commission’s proposal, covering meat from animals born after August 1996, will now be discussed by European Union veterinary experts.