US warns EU over meat safety rules

08 September 1997

US warns EU over meat safety rules

MEAT safety rules designed to curb the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) threaten a shortage of vital medicines in Europe, the US government and pharmaceuticals industry warned.

European Union (EU) scientific experts will meet in Brussels today to consider US demands to be excluded from the rules, which come into force next January.

The US has warned these could block $100 million (£63m) of its annual exports to the EU of tallow. It has threatened to refer the case to the World Trade Organisation.