Testing for BSE in Japan

Japanese government begins mass screening of all cattle for BSE in national herd following confirmation of the first case of the disease in Asia last month

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare yesterday (18 October 2001) began a mass screening programme to test its national herd for cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), in an effort to reassure anxious consumers that domestic beef is safe to eat and to gauge a true picture of the full extent of infection in the country which had until only recently been considered free of the disease.

The decision has been made by Japanese officials to test all cattle which are destined for the human food chain.

Such measures have been taken in response to the discovery of Asia's first positive case of BSE in a five year-old cow, confirmed last month.

The moves mirror similar strict programmes being run within many of Europe's member states, following the January 2001 European Commission Directive which seeks to protect public health and to eradicate the disease.

Under the scheme, each cow will face a post-mortem test which involves the detection of an abnormal prion protein (PrPres) in brain tissue, the only specific biochemical marker of BSE.

More than 100 state approved laboratories have been appointed to carry out systematic checks on samples using a highly sensitive, fast and accurate Bio-Rad test.

This is the identification process most relied on by European governments.

BSE has been linked to Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) in humans, a degenerative and fatal disease of the brain.

In the UK, deaths from vCJD have been on the rise recently, with 107 cases now confirmed by the Department of Health.

BSE cases, however, are in decline with 521 positives being recorded so far this year.

For Europe as a whole, BSE records are on the increase, as anticipated, following member states' adoption of mandatory mass screening initiatives to curb and control infection.

Chris Rew of Bio-Rad Laboratories, which developed the test now relied on by Japan and 12 other countries worldwide, said: "We have been working closely with the Japanese government and have sent specialists to advise them on the how best to ensure infected animals do not reach the public, and also get an accurate picture of what level of BSE infection Japan might be facing." Additional measures taken by Japan, in response to last month's BSE finding, includes the ban on domestic and imported meat and bone feed for all animals.

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