- A Tokyo farm ministry panel said Tuesday more than 30
cows in Japan could be infected with mad cow disease, in addition to the
cases already confirmed.
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- The panel based the estimate on the supply of meat-and-bone-meal
feed produced before sales were banned in October 2001 following the outbreak
in Japan of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Seven cases have been confirmed
since last September.
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- But Japan expects 60 percent of infected cows were safely
dealt with before falling sick and the remainder will be barred from the
market through comprehensive inspection procedures, Kyodo News Service
reported.
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- In a final report submitted Tuesday, the panel traced
the source of the mad-cow outbreak in Japan either to cows imported from
Britain in the 1980s or to Italian-made feed imported in and before 1990
and said they caused secondary infections through domestic cows.
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- But the panel was unable to determine which of the two
sources was responsible.
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- Mad cow disease is believed to be caused by the consumption
of meat-and-bone-meal feed contaminated with prions -- protein particles
lacking nucleic acid that are linked to nervous system illnesses such as
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
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- http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20030930-035038-9595r.htm
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