Japan rejects US request for beef import resumption

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Japan rejects US request for beef import resumption

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The Japanese government Monday rejected a US request for early resumption of beef imports from the United States but agreed to send experts to the United States in early January to check on the safety of beef products.

According to Kyodo News, in the high-level talks since the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States earlier this month, US officials told Japan that the two countries need to discuss ways to lift the beef import ban that Tokyo imposed last week.

But the Japanese side turned down the request, saying the two countries should focus on fact-finding for the time being and it is premature to discuss resumption of imports, Kyodo said.

Japan proposed sending a mission of experts to the country on Jan. 5 to discover the details surrounding the case of mad cow disease found in a Holstein cow in the state of Washington.

Japan banned beef imports from the United Sates immediately after Washington announced last Tuesday that a cow in Washington State tested positive for the brain-wasting bovine disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Japan is among more than two dozen nations that suspended US beef imports after the announcement.

Japan, which has so far reported nine cases of the disease since September 2001, tests all the cows it slaughters. Japan is calling on the United States to test all herds to ensure the safety of beef products.

Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in Britain in 1986. A fatal and incurable human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is believed to be caused by eating neural tissue from cattle with BSE.

The United States exported 1.03 billion US dollars worth of beef, veal, prepared beef products and variety meats to Japan in 2002, accounting for about 32 percent of total exports, according to Japanese government statistics.

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