USDA wants Japan to reassess 100-percent BSE testing requirement

USDA wants Japan to reassess 100-percent BSE testing requirement    The U.S. Department of Agriculture asked its Japanese counterpart in a letter this week to reassess its requirement for 100-percent cattle testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as “mad cow” disease.
   Japan imposed the testing requirement after it discovered a case of BSE. Japan closed its market to U.S. beef imports after the United States reported its first BSE case in late December, and has suggested a 100-percent testing requirement for U.S. cattle before resuming American beef imports.
   The United States cited a recent report from the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) that found that there’s no scientific basis for 100-percent testing.
   “The most appropriate path at this point is for the scientific experts at the OIE to consult and agree upon measures that are based on science,” said U.S. agriculture secretary Ann M. Veneman in a statement Wednesday. “We have assurances that the OIE would commit to an aggressive timetable to review a commonly accepted definition of BSE and related testing methodologies as well as common definition of specified risk materials.”