French Farmers Demand Aid in Mad Cow ProtestsFarmers in northern France burned tires, paraded cows through streets and blocked a building with tractors Monday, calling for more government aid amid the mad cow crisis.The demonstrations began a week of planned protests by farmers' unions and came on the eve of a planned meeting between union leaders and Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany. Farmers demanded compensation to help them overcome financial hardships they say have resulted from public panic over mad cow disease. In Avesnes-sur-Helpe, about 300 farmers marched through the streets alongside tractors and cows. In Caen, about 20 farmers blocked off the regional agriculture department with tractors, vowing to remain there for three days. And in nearby Rouen, two dozen farmers burned tires in front of a government building. Beef sales plummeted in France after an announcement in October that a batch of potentially infected meat had gone on sale in grocery stores. Mad cow disease has been linked with a human equivalent called new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed some 80 Europeans since the mid-1990s, mostly in Britain. European Union finance ministers approved a $900 million budget Monday to fight mad cow disease and its economic effects, including $650 million to ease pressure on beef prices by destroying cows. The number of cases of mad cow disease reported in France increased nearly fivefold last year, to 150, in part because the government broadened screening of cows. |
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