Posted on 01/20/2006 4:47:49 AM PST by prairiebreeze
TOKYO Jan 20, 2006 — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday said Japan would completely halt imports of U.S. beef after a recent shipment was found that may contain material considered at risk for mad cow disease
"This is a pity given that imports had just resumed," Koizumi told reporters. "I received the agriculture minister's report with his recommendation that the imports be halted and I think it is a good idea."
Mad cow disease is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, a degenerative nerve disease in cattle that is linked to a rare but fatal nerve disorder in humans, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
Industry news wires are similarly vague as to specifics, only stating some of the meat may have been from too close to the backbone. I'll post any further relevant finding if they become available.
ping
Hmm, those inscrutable Orientals.
Is that Japanese lobby group anything like Montana's RCALF tht does not want to see the resumption of Canadian beef imports?
The US did the same with British beef didn't it?
Of course the Brits had a significant BSE problem. The articles are short on specifics as to what exactly yanked the inspectors chain.
I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Now,let that title sink in for a minute....
Well that doesnt help my friends and family in Kansas. Heck the Japanese just visited the big 3 Plants in Kansas and resumed imports just a few weeks ago this wont play well there, kind of a two faced deal if you asked me.
May we should just slap a tariff on something we import from them until they reconsider.
Asian business ethics are a lot different. All the nightmares my company has had dealing with China is a good example of that. I wouldn't be surprised if this was planted.
Nope, not necessarily. maybe, more like Japan being forced to uphold it's behind closed doors agreement with Argentina as to buy their beef as Japan has removed a lot of Argentinia's timber. Hey, but what do I know? Japan's never been good with upholding its business contracts with the rest of the world. It's an Asian culture 'rip-off' thing that is very widespread.
More for us!
The US is not doing enough about this proplem, I had a friend die of this disease years before it became known by the public in this county. I had also heard of others in the east Texas area from time to time again years before it was made public that there was such a desease.
At one time, the local beef industry did keep out foreign beef. This protectionism begin to collapse with the gradual opening of the market in the 1980's. By the 1990's, the market was so open that even some of the larger supermarket chains bought interests in U.S. beef packing plants.
The availablity of inexpensive beef for the consumer actually stimulated demand for the local (Kobe, Matsuzaka) premium beef.
All went well with the growth of beef imports until the outbreak of mad cow disease which excluded British beef. Then came the hoof & mouth disease which excluded North American beef.
As you note, U.S. beef imports were only recently resumed, because the Japanese were convinced it was no longer a problem with U.S. beef.
Australian and, as you pointed out, Argentine beef, continue to sell briskly in Japan. Without the disease fears, U.S. beef would be outselling both as it was before the discovery of diseases once eradicated in our livestock industry.
There is no reason the Japanese favor Australian or Argentine beef over U.S. beef other than disease fear.
Hoof & mouth disease was eradicated in the U.S. prior to NAFTA. The open borders crowd is now doing to our beef industry what they've done to our low-skill service industry. Ain't Kool-Aid drinking free trade grand?
I'd imagine that there would be a bunch of Aussie farmers who would be more than happy to fill the demand.
thanks for the ping.
keep me posted.
-
I'll bet they aren't sorry at all to halt the imports. It sounds like made up BS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.