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Safety must be assured in order to resume U.S. beef imports
Akahata Editorial

The Japanese government has decided to resume U.S. beef imports that have been banned for two years following the discovery of a BSE-infection case in the U.S.

The government insists that its decision was based on the Cabinet Food Safety Commission report concluding that the risk of eating U.S. beef will be as low as that of domestic beef if Japan will only allow imports of U.S. beef from cattle 20 months or younger with the high-risk parts, such as the brain and spinal cord, removed.

Government ignores experts' and citizens' voices

It is wrong to regard only this part of the Food Safety Commission report as relevant.

The Commission stated in its report that it is difficult to make a scientific assessment of the risk of U.S. and Japanese beef due to the lack of data. In other words, it is impossible to scientifically assess whether the safety of U.S. beef is assured.

If claiming that it decided to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports based on the "scientific assessment," the government must pay attention to this particular part of the report because the Commission used the word "scientific" only in this sentence in the entire report.

However, the government's statement explaining how it decided to resume U.S. beef imports does not mention this part while referring to many other parts in the report.

It reveals the government's attitude of ignoring the Food Safety Commission members' opinions.

The government has also turned its back on citizens.

In the government-sponsored hearings on easing requirements for the testing of all domestic cattle for BSE, about 70 percent of the participants spoke against and nearly 60 percent of the participants in the hearings on the resumption of U.S.-beef imports expressed doubts about the safety of U.S. beef.

Arguing that the "government food safety administration must be based on scientific expertise," the government has failed to listen to public opinion on the grounds that it is not compatible with scientific opinion.

Public trust is indispensable to food safety administration. If the government disregards this point, it cannot ensure the safety of food in response to public concerns.

Three fourths of respondents to a Kyodo News survey said they are unwilling to eat U.S. beef. More than 60percent of them said they question the safety of the meat. Asked "What the government should do in lifting the beef import ban," 56.5percent said, "the government must call on the U.S. to conduct blanket testing of all slaughtered cattle for BSE" (Tokyo Shimbun, December 7).

How can public trust be regained?

If the government is to regain the public trust in U.S. beef, it should request the U.S. government to conduct blanket testing of all unslaughtered cows for BSE.

When the first case of BSE infection was discovered in the U.S., Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said in the Diet on January 23, 2004, "Lifting the ban on importing U.S. beef requires testing of all U.S. unslaughtered cows and eliminating specified at risk parts as it is done for domestic cattle."

Later, following the Japan-U.S. agreement in April 2004, the government urged the panel to discuss how to ease the requirement for the testing of all domestic cattle and lift the U.S. beef import ban. The U.S. government has stated publicly that it has kept on pressing the Japanese government to this effect.

The Japanese government must not adversely revise its food safety policy by putting U.S. interests above everything else in disregard of the opinions of the public and the experts.
-Akahata, December 13, 2005