text: The main reason for the people of Britain to stop eating beef at the moment is the threat of BSB. This is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system which can be passed on through consumsuming the animal. In cows it is commonly know as mad cow disease and by law any cow showing these signs must be destroyed and not sold for meat. The problem is however the signs are not shown for a long time, this being a viral disease. It can be passed on to humans through eating parts of the animal such as the brain which is affected and these parts are usually sold and put into fast foods such as beef burgers. The rest of the meat however is relatively safe and eating, e.g. a steak offers very little chance of the disease being passed on. However the British press has ignored this fact and blown the situation out of proportion considering only a very small number of people have died of the disease after a lifetime of eating beef.
  
  Another reason for the British people to stop eating beef is the push for vegetarianism, although this is a much smaller threat to the trade than the former point abut BSB.
  
  These factors could have a considerable impact on the agricultural industry preventing the sale of British dairy livestock not only in Britain but for export aswell. With global communications as good as they are now, it could send a scare across the world about British Beef - indeed France and Germany already have restricted and someplaces banned the sale or import of British beef for fear of it's safety.
  
  Although British farmers have learned to diversits, Dairy farming and the sale of Beef products still forms the backbone of British agriculture and would completely change the face of farming in Britain. Wether they switch to sheep or vegetable crops were made, substantial changes would be needed to change the situation.
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