France delays British lamb ban

There are fears sheep could carry BSE

France has delayed by six months a ban on many British lamb exports which is aimed at protecting against "mad cow disease" BSE.

France had said that from Monday it would accept only lamb carcasses with all spinal cord removed by the age of six months.

Under EU law, only year-old lambs must have the spinal cord cut out. Almost all the lambs Britain sells to France are between six and 12 months old.

Farmers said the new law would have effectively decimated Britain's lamb export market - 70% of which, worth more than £155m, is currently directed at France.

BSE in sheep

Scrapie could be masking cases of BSE

Scientists have infected sheep with BSE in labs

No naturally occurring cases of sheep BSE yet reported

Parts of sheep already banned from food in EU as precaution

But the Meat and Livestock Commission said it has brokered a deal between Britain and France for more time.

Remi Fourrier, the MLC manager in France, said: "The lamb trade is extremely important to both countries and our aim was to make (France) aware of the potentially devastating effect the move could have.

"This gives us breathing space to continue our work to get those proposals scrapped."

Last week, Tory Euro MPs appealed to the European Commission to intervene to prevent the ban being put in force.

France has already been told by the EU Health Commissioner David Byrne that UK lamb exports are not a public health risk, and an effective trade blockade from France would breach European law.

Scrapie fear

Britain is still smarting from France's refusal to end a ban on British beef exports because of BSE fears.

France is still banning British beef

Last week the European Commission gave France 15 days to lift its ban on British beef, or face hefty fines.

France believes sheep infected with the fairly common disease called scrapie could mask the presence of the more serious BSE.

While scrapie is believed to pose no threat to human health, the human equivalent of mad cow disease, vCJD, has claimed at least 100 lives.

Scientists have managed to infect sheep with BSE in laboratories, although to date there have been no reports of a naturally occurring case of the disease in sheep.

Certain sheep tissue is already banned from human consumption across the EU as a precaution.

The spleen is removed from sheep aged six to 12 months, while the skull, brain, eyes, tonsils and spinal cord are removed from animals more than a year old.