Taiwanese Protest Resumption Of Us Beef Imports

Thousands of protesters demand the Taiwan government continue to ban US beef, in Taipei, Taiwan, 14 Nov 2009Thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets of Taipei Saturday toprotest the government's decision to lift a six-year ban on imports ofsome kinds of beef from the United States.

Activists demanded atrade pact with the United States be renegotiated to prohibit some cutsof beef believed to cause mad cow disease.

President MaYing-jeou said last month that his government had reached an agreementwith the United States on measures to protect the health of consumersof U.S. beef. He said those included stricter U.S. quality controls atthe point of origin and allowing Taiwan veterinarians to inspect U.S.slaughterhouses.

Under a deal signed on October 22, Taiwanagreed to lift a six-year ban on imports of U.S. beef-on-the-bone,minced beef and cow organs from cattle younger than 30 months.

Some critics of the agreement in Taiwan have threatened to boycott the imports, which resumed on November 10.

Taiwanbanned all U.S. beef imports in 2003 after mad cow disease was found ina U.S. herd of cattle. It partially eased the ban in 2006 to permitU.S. imports of boneless beef, believed to be free of any health risk.

Madcow disease is a brain-wasting illness in cattle that can cause a fatalcondition in humans known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.


Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.