Byrne slams mad-cow complacency
24 January 2001
Byrne slams mad-cow ‘complacency’
By Philip Clarke in Brussels
EUROPEAN consumer affairs commissioner David Byrne has criticised three EU member states for their complacency over rising levels of BSE.
Without referring to the countries by name, Mr Byrne indicated that Germany, Spain and Italy had ignored warnings that BSE was in their herds.
“Last March our geographical risk assessment was published and put them all in the high-risk category,” he said.
“Each responded by saying they didnt have BSE. They have now changed their tune and are even pointing the finger at us, saying we didnt do enough.”
Addressing the European Parliaments agriculture committee in Brussels on Tuesday, (23 January), Mr Byrne pledged tighter controls against BSE.
In fact, the commission had been trying to introduce specified risk material controls since 1996, and had been consistently blocked by the three countries.
Recent BSE test results confirmed they had been “dangerously complacent”.
In a sometimes acrimonious debate, French MEP Jean-Claude Martinez claimed that the Commission had ignored warnings about meat and bonemeal.
And he said that taking France to court over its continuing ban on British beef was equivalent to threatening a country trying to protect itself from BSE.
This was rebutted by British MEP Struan Stevenson, who said that France should let its consumers eat British beef if it really wanted to protect consumers.
Mr Byrne agreed that the UK authorities had rigorously enforced all BSE controls, which meant the disease was now in decline.
“Consumers can see that the scientists got the science right, the lawmakers got the laws right and the enforcers got the enforcement right,” he said.
“As a result, beef consumption in the UK is back to pre-1996 levels.”
Mr Byrne also indicated that the commission would be coming forward with further proposals designed to control BSE in the next few days.
The Scientific Steering Committee has called for a ban on mechanically recovered meat from the food chain and animal fats from animal feed.
Vertebral column is also likely to banned in those countries which failed to stop the use of ruminant meat and bonemeal in the past.
Several MEPs criticised the commissions purchase for destruction policy for cattle over 30 months old, which they see as unethical and wasteful.
German MEP Willi Gorlach wondered if this over-30-month meat could be sent as food aid to Russia or other less-developed countries.
But farm commissioner Franz Fischler said it was cheaper to destroy meat now as it would not be saleable in two years time due to European labelling laws.
“If we have meat which we say is conceivably a risk to our consumers, were not going to start exporting it to others.”
Safety-net intervention should be avoided at all costs, he added, as this would bust the EU budget, and force the commission to cut other areas of farm support.