Ban French beef, ministers urged

Tim Yeo fears French beef is a risk to humans

The UK Government is being urged to impose a unilateral embargo on imports of French beef.

The call by shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo comes after French authorities announced a ban on T-bone steaks and a moratorium on the use of animal products in livestock feed.

The measures are intended to calm public fears in France over rising cases of BSE, or mad cow disease.

Although countries including Russia and Hungary have acted to ban French beef, and Spain has barred the import of some French cattle, the European Union has not moved to restrict exports so far.

Tim Yeo says the government is more interested in protecting French farmers

But Mr Yeo demanded the government take action to keep "sub-standard imports" out of the UK.

In a letter to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, the Conservative Party spokesman said the French had admitted their BSE controls were "inadequate".

French beef might therefore pose a risk to human health, he warned.

Mr Yeo said: "The recent BSE inquiry set out clearly the risks that British consumers faced 10 years ago."

"The danger now is that similar risks may be being run because of Labour's refusal to act on sub-standard imports.

"I have written to Nick Brown urging him to ban the import of French beef.

Minister accused

"The agriculture minister's refusal to stand up to his French counterpart shows once again that he is more interested in protecting French farmers than British consumers."

As French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced the new restrictions on Tuesday he appeared to suggest British animal feed manufacturers were to blame for the emergence of BSE.

He said: "BSE developed in Great Britain. It is connected to an abnormal prion transmitted to cattle through feed when UK animal feed manufacturers lowered standards for treatment of meat meal destined for animals at the end of the 1970s."

Lionel Jospin has also introduced random tests on cattle

Mr Jospin said France already had one of the world's toughest anti-BSE programmes.

He pointed out they had maintained the embargo on British beef when it was lifted by the rest of the EU in December 1999.

That decision had been taken, Mr Jospin said, because British herds had suffered an unusually large number of cases of the illness over the years - some 180,000 or 2,000 times the total in France.

The UK Government said latest annual figures showed there had been 1,053 infected cattle in the UK - 50% down on the previous year - compared to 86 in France.

A spokesman said the government acknowledged the BSE problem in other countries may have been caused by exports of infected cattle or animal feed from the UK.

The French action has been welcomed by Liberal Democrat agriculture spokesman Colin Breed, but he said the moves were "a bit late in the day".

Colin Breed: "Ban must mean a complete ban"

"France has been urged to ban meat and bone meal feed for a number of years.

"A ban must mean a complete ban. All meat and bone meal feed must be withdrawn and destroyed immediately.

"There must be no possibility of any unintentional use of this animal feed."

French restrictions in force since 1990 ban the use of meat and bone meal in cattle feed, but the new temporary ban will apply to all livestock fodder.

It has been prompted by fears that feeds containing cattle products have been accidentally or deliberately fed to cattle, despite the existing ban.

Mr Jospin has also announced other measures, including random tests on cattle entering slaughterhouses and more funds for research into BSE.