Officials said the moves were purely precautions against mad cow, which has been linked to a variant strand of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which affects humans. Yet alarm seemed to be spreading, and the European Union's health and consumer protection commissioner, David Byrne, urged EU member nations to go beyond a recent requirement that they randomly test their herds by January. The requirement was put in place after the number of cases of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, tripled in France to 90 this year, compared to 31 last year.
French authorities say the increase is due to the implementation of special detection tests.
In response to public concerns, Italian Agriculture Minister Alfonso Pecoro Scanio asked the EU's veterinary committee to hold an urgent meeting. The Swiss Red Cross announced it was barring blood donations from people who spent more than six months in Britain between 1980 and 1996. Regional offices have until March to implement the ban. He stressed that the measure was purely precautionary. Ths website is designed and maintained in cooperation with HelpForMyWebsite.