French warned to expect increase in cases of vCJD
10 November, 2000
Beef consumption is plummeting in France due to concern over Creutzfeldt Jacob disease, and the French health minister has warned the country to expect an increase in variant CJD, a human form of ‘mad cow’ disease.
France has had 3 confirmed cases of vCJD and according to the health minister, the number of cases will rise. Surveillance of the disease is proving difficult due to the reluctance of French families to permit autopsies–the difference between the classical and variant forms of the disease can only be established by autopsy.
France has continued the practice of using cattle carcasses in chicken and pig feed, which subsequently contaminates cattle feed. This practice was banned by Britain in 1996 and although France is considering banning the use of any meat or bone meal in animal feed, farmers’ groups there say they will not accept the main substitute, rapeseed, that is grown in North America or Brazil as it may contain genetically modified material.
Last month, there was public outrage in France at the revelation that meat from a herd in which one animal had BSE was illegally sent to supermarkets. More cases have been reported in French cattle this year than in the entire previous course of the epidemic in France.
German state governments want to ban both British and French beef, and British politicians want a ban on French beef, all in defiance of European Union rules. Russia, Poland and Hungary have already banned French beef.
Last Reviewed: 10 November 2000
- New Scientist
