US, Canada declared "controlled risk" zones for mad-cow disease

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — The United States and Canada have been classified as countries with a "controlled risk" of mad-cow disease, the world's top agency for safety in meat and farm animal trade agreed on Tuesday.

In a reaction to the ruling, the United States said it would call on its trade partners to set a timetable for easing any lingering restrictions on US beef.

The decision was reached unanimously by 150 delegates in the scientific commission of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), its director general, Bernard Vallat, said.

The US had sought classification by the OIE after sales of beef were hit by import bans in more than a dozen countries, triggered by concern over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), as mad-cow disease is called.

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