Brussels, 20/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU's Standing Veterinary Committee (SVC) is in favour of lifting the obligation on European operators to test 20% of beef imports from the US to detect hormones. When the Commission endorses the SVC's decision, testing for hormone residues in meat imports will be optional. Since September 1999 (when the EU discovered traces of anabolic steroids in meat certified as hormone-free), additional tests were imposed on US meat imports (including offal but excluding bison) certified as hormone-free. The US abandoned its hormone-free meat programme in July 1999, to sort out the problems, relaunching it in September 1999 under a new name (non-hormone treated cattle programme).