[1002] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
Germans advised not to eat lamb
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (elsiedee@MIT.EDU)
Thu Aug 22 12:20:59 1996
From: elsiedee@MIT.EDU
To: vsg@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 12:18:32 EDT
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 23:53:31 -0400
From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Germans advised not to eat lamb from Britain
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tursday, August 22, 1996
Germans advised not to eat lamb from Britain
By Peter Bild in Bonn and David Brown
GERMANS were told by their chief veterinary surgeon last
night not to eat British lamb until it could be shown that there was no link
between BSE-infected cattle and sheep.
Many Germans are worried that BSE, which has totally
removed British and most German beef from dinner tables, might have also
infected lamb. It is a further blow to British farmers. Some 10 per cent of
lamb bought in Germany comes from Britain.
Dr Werner Zwingmann, who heads the German Agriculture
Ministry's task force, told German television's Second Channel that there is
no concrete evidence to suggest that BSE could be transmitted across
species. At the same time, he said, consumers should buy lamb from Germany,
or other countries, until the EU's veterinary committee in Brussels has
examined and reported on possible transmission of BSE.
German officials have highlighted fears among consumers
that lax British controls of animal feed and the apparent habit of British
farmers to use the same, possibly infected, feed for a variety of animals,
could pose a danger in all British meat. There is little doubt that the
warning from one of
Germany's most respected veterinarians could have a major
impact on buying habits and will fuel the widespread aversion in Germany to
British food products.
'Other EU countries see no reason for these scare
stories about the safety of lamb'
Brussels veterinary experts are due to meet as soon as
possible to report on possible health dangers in British lamb. The Ministry
of Agriculture said last night that it had not received an official approach
from the German government about fears for the safety of British lamb. It
said it
stood by the advice of its independent Spongiform
Encephalopathy Advisory Committee that no BSE infection occurred naturally
in sheep.
A spokesman said: "As we announced in July, when it was
disclosed that BSE could be transmitted to sheep under experimental
conditions, the heads of sheep are now removed and destroyed as an extra
precaution."
Farmers and meat industry leaders reacted angrily to the
German announcement. The Meat and Livestock Commission, which promotes
British meat, said: "No other country acts in any way like this."
Ben Gill, deputy president of the National Farmers Union
for England and Wales, said the fears were nonsense. Scrapie, a fatal brain
disease in sheep, which is believed to have sparked BSE when it spread to
cattle through contaminated food, had been known for more than 250 years.
"The pressure against British lamb comes from just one
German region. In any case, the Germans are not big consumers of lamb."
Mr Gill said that both the EU Commission and its Standing
Veterinary Committee were happy about the safety of British lamb. "Other EU
countries see no reason for these scare stories about the safety of lamb."
- -David
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