JAPANESE OFFICIALS RESIGN OVER U.S. MAD COW DEBACLE

Despite new cases of Mad Cow disease surfacing in the U.S., Japan
is reopening its borders to American beef. As a result of the
policy decision half of the members of Japan’s beef-safety government
advisory panel have resigned. Morikazu Shinagawa, a researcher
at the national Institute of Animal Health and a resigning member
of the panel, told Kyodo News Service he "couldn’t continue
to work" on the panel because the conclusion to resume imports
was preordained by the government. Japan banned U.S. beef imports
in 2003 due to weak beef safety regulations in the U.S. While
100% of cows in Japan, aged 24 months and older, are tested for
the Mad Cow disease, only 1% of the 35 million cattle slaughtered
annually in the U.S. are tested. Japan recently caved to pressure
from the Bush Administration and lift the ban on U.S. beef imports
while appointing new "experts" to its beef safety advisory
panel. /old_articles/artman/publish/article_227.cfm