Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 08:54:05 -0400
From: jeff.gordon@wellnow.com

Reposted to the Aspartame list on 28 Apr; excerpted here from the copyrighted Reuter's press item under Fair Use provisions. Note that this may be an effect of FDA's approval of Monsanto's rBST, genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, a few years ago.

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EU VETS POISED TO RECOMMEND BAN ON U.S. BEEF, April 26, 1999

BRUSSELS, April 26 (Reuters) European Union veterinary experts are expected on Tuesday to vote to ban imports of hormone-free beef from the United States after some shipments were found to contain hormones, EU officials said on Monday.

The ban, if adopted, would take effect from June 15 unless the U.S. authorities could prove they had solved the problem by then, officials said.

The EU's executive Commission called for a ban last week after scientific tests showed that 12 percent of supposedly hormone-free U.S. beef contained residues of hormones.

The EU already bars U.S. beef from cattle reared using growth hormones on the grounds that it might be carcinogenic.

A further ban on hormone-free beef would therefore effectively block all U.S. beef imports into the 15-nation EU.

The United States is already threatening punitive 100 percent duties on a range of EU goods if the hormone beef ban is not lifted by May 13. This latest twist is likely to further sour relations.

(*snip*)
 

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