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Agricultural ministry withheld report on possibility of BSE outbreak in U.S.

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Kami Tomoko on March 4 revealed that the Japanese Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry in November 2002 compiled a report that foresaw the possibility of a BSE outbreak in the United States, but that it stopped short of publishing it.

"The Japanese agricultural ministry was aware of the possibility but continued importing U.S. beef, including risky parts, for nearly one year until the first BSE-infected cow was discovered in the United States," Kami's office said.

It was the period of time when Japan began conducting blanket testing of all Japanese cattle for BSE as well as removing dangerous parts from Japanese beef in the wake of the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in Japan.

Kami made this revelation based on a report compiled by the ministry's investigation committee on BSE.

According to the minutes of meetings, the committee had decided to notify the United States of the possibility of a BSE epidemic and to make it known to the public, but it stopped short of doing so in the end.

Because the committee's report and meeting minutes had been withheld from the public, the Food Safety Commission's Prion Expert Committee failed to consider the new information in the discussions on lifting the ban on U.S. beef imports.

The agricultural ministry explained that it had kept a lid on the information on the grounds that the circumstances had changed while the ministry was considering procedures for information disclosure. This argument is totally unconvincing.
- Akahata, March 5, 2006