SIR – In response to your correspondents who wish to EU-bash by asking why the UK has not banned the import of beef from other EU countries while they banned the import of UK beef following on from BSE, let’s look at some facts.
BSE in cattle and vCJD in humans is a transmissible degenerative disease caused by prion proteins. According to the World Health Organisation, since 1996 around 130 people are recorded as having died from vCJD, mostly in the UK. It is likely more people than this had the disease but it was not diagnosed. The big fear until after 2000 was that there could be a major epidemic. This seems unlikely now.
In these circumstances, a ban on imports of possibly-infected cattle and meat was sensible and prudent.
In contrast, there is no question of any infective hazard from horsemeat, and the secondary concern of contamination by phenylbutazone seems minimal. The issues with contamination of beef products by horsemeat are of culture and honesty. If beef products had been labelled ‘May contain traces of horsemeat’, no-one could have complained.
For this, a ban on imports of beef would be an unjustified over-reaction.
And before anyone asks, yes I have.
Ron Harding, Beck Houses, Bingley
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