Brussels, 19/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the next Agriculture Council on Monday 22 February, Belgium will put pressure on the European Commission to agree to relax certain rules on screening of cattle for “mad cow disease” (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE). According to a source, Belgium expects to receive the support of “quite a few” other member states.
During the “Other Business” section, the Belgian delegation will argue that conditions are such that Belgium, and other EU countries, should no longer be categorised as a country which presents a “negligible risk” of BSE but should have the status of a country with a “controlled risk” of BSE. This change of category would mean that Belgium would no longer have to screen “healthy bovine animals”. “Such an amendment would not increase public health risks and would mean considerable savings for the government,” it says in the Belgian delegation's explanatory note. Belgium recently made a similar request, but the Commission informed it that it was still too soon to make such changes and that there would first have to be harmonisation of the rules among EU member states.
Belgium will ask the Commission to agree to increasing the age limit from which cattle have to be screened for BSE from 48 to 60 months. Currently, the 15 older member states, along with Slovenia and Cyprus, have to comply with this 48-month ruling. For the 10 other member states, the rules are much stricter.
The Commission plans to adopt its new “roadmap on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies” (TSE) in May. (L.C./transl.rt)