Whatever the source of this malady, there is no known cure. It is a particularly horrific disease which eats away the brain. Thus far about 80 people have died in Britain. Unfortunately, Asian governments are far too complacent about the dangers of BSE believing that it is somehow safely confined to the far side of the planet. This is a false sense of security in a global economy.
Cattle feed is a commodity traded round the world.
Until 1996 Britain continued to export tons of meat and bone meal made up of pulverized cattle parts. By the time Britain stopped shipping the stuff, cattle farms in India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand had fed it to their herds. Thailand banned beef imports from the major at-risk countries only in December. Tokyo, which partially banned British imports as far back as 1990, declares the risk is slight, since most beef imports come from America, which thus far appears to be untainted by the disease. All countries that have imported cattle or meat and bone meal from any Western European country during and since the 1980s can be considered at risk, declared the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in January.