Russia Bans Spanish Meat Over Mad Cow FearsRussia has banned imports of cattle and some meat and meat products from Spain due to fears of mad cow disease, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry told Reuters on Wednesday."The ban became effective from March 7, that is from today," the spokeswoman said. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is believed to be linked to the spread of the deadly human brain disorder variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). The spokeswoman said that the ban would apply to imports of pedigree cattle, beef products, sheep and goat meat and products, processed bovine, sheep and goat proteins and some other products including gelatin. Russia has already banned imports of live cattle from three German states, France and the Netherlands and restricted beef imports from Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland, France and Britain because of fears over BSE. No case of BSE has been discovered in Russia so far. |
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