document: The German government yesterday announced the launch of a new research project to examine whether the cattle disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy -LRB- BSE -RRB- can be transmitted to human beings . The initiative comes as the country is pushing for a European Union ban on British beef imports , arguing that there is still no conclusive evidence that the disease can not affect humans . Seven German universities and research institutes will be sponsored by the country 's research and technology ministry to examine possible connections between the origins of BSE and two other diseases , Creutzfeldt Jakob disease and Gerstmann Straussler syndrome , which very rarely affect humans . Several German scientists have expressed concern that BSE - popularly known as ` mad cow disease ' because of the way it debilitates the brains of cattle - may be transmissible to humans who eat contaminated beef or take medicines made with ingredients from contaminated animals . ` The danger that BSE can be transmitted to humans is minimal or non-existent , ' said Professor Hans Kretzschmar from Gottingen University . ` However , we do not know that it is non-existent . I personally think -LRB- British beef -RRB- should not be imported . ' Contaminated British beef will be discussed at a meeting of EU health ministers on March 30 , but a German official said that any decisions about a ban would be made by the union 's agriculture ministers , who were likely to argue that existing safeguards were sufficient . In 1992 , the last year for which figures are available , Germany imported 2,092 tonnes of British beef - 2 per cent of all its beef imports from other EU countries - and 13 tonnes of veal . The research ministry said that more than 100,000 cattle had died as a result of catching BSE in Britain . A further 50 cases of the disease had been recorded in Switzerland and there were two known cases in Germany , one of which affected a cow imported from Britain .
extractive_keyphrases: cattle disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy bse mad cow disease british beef imports possible connections