The French Government has admitted it is baffled by the continuing spread of BSE in France.

The number of cases is rising and France's agriculture minister has suggested there may be a mysterious 'third way' of transmitting the disease.

Jean Glavany's comments, published in a newspaper last Saturday, have caused an angry reaction from farmers and consumers who demanded he clarify his remarks.

"I said things which French scientists have been saying for several years" Mr Glavany told LCI television afterwards.

"I said that basically the scientists are in a phase of uncertainty".

He said they had identified the two most probably ways of passing BSE, but that because cases of the disease were not tapering off as expected a third method of contamination could not be ruled out.

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