European Union agriculture ministers have agreed to extend testing for mad cow disease to "all cattle at risk over the age of 30 months" from 1 January. The measures contained in an accord were agreed after all night talks aimed at allaying European consumer fears over BSE. However, they fall below those demanded by France and the European Commission.
France, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, had called for tests to be extended to all cows past a certain age whether or not they were considered to be at risk from the disease. The marathon session began at 3pm yesterday afternoon and continued through the night, with ministers failing to agree on a common position on dealing with mad cow disease. The ministers met in restricted session, with just one official each present in the last two hours, in an attempt to hammer out a final text.
There was wide disagreement between states over the kind of measures that need to be taken. France called for a ban on all animal meat and bone meal being fed to pigs and poultry, but Germany and Denmark strongly resisted this move. David Byrne, Food Safety Commissioner, called for a massively extended testing programme, but states such as Sweden say that it should not apply to them, as they are BSE free.
On Morning Ireland, the Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, said that the fact that ministers had agreed a common approach to the BSE problem was good news for Ireland. On the same programme, the leader of the Irish Farmers Association, Tom Parlon, said that there was a problem with consumer confidence at the moment and farmers here would co-operate with any new safety measures.
