Lithuania: scientists determine Mad Cow disease probably has spread to eastern Europe

摘要

Brussels--Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad Cow disease, probably has spread to a country in Eastern Europe that wants to join the European Union, according to the executive European Commission. Despite previous statementsthat BSE is strictly an internal EU problem. EU scientists determined that the disease has spread to the Baltic country of Lithuania. The EU's Scientific Steering Committee determined that Lithuania probably harbors BSE because it has imported 1,900 live cattle from the EU since 1993 as well as 38,800 tons of meat and bone meal. "The appropriate risk management measures such as a meat and bone meal feed ban and a plan to enforce the ban were not put in place until very recently," the scientists statedFebruary 13. "Therefore it is regarded highly likely that Lithuanian cattle were exposed to potentially BSE-contaminated feed and subsequently infected,"