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By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
PARIS
(AP) - Cases of mad cow disease have increased sharply in
France this year, prompting the recall of beef from supermarkets
and the destruction of a herd of cows over the weekend.
A total
of 73 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly
known as mad cow disease, have been reported since January
- compared with 31 for all of last year.
The
disease has been at the heart of Europe's beef scare. In
1996, the European Union imposed a ban on British beef after
a link was established between the bovine disease and a
new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain-wasting
condition in humans. The EU ban was lifted last year with
the introduction of safety measures.
French
agriculture officials said a herd of 89 cows in the Loire
valley was destroyed over the weekend after one animal was
found to be suffering from the disease. Another infected
cow was discovered in the Vosges region in eastern France
over the weekend.
The
Carrefour supermarket chain said it had urgently cleared
the shelves of 39 supermarkets in northern France and the
Paris region that were selling meat that may have come from
infected cows. On Sunday, the chain appealed to customers
to return meat with expiration dates from Oct. 10-15.
Carrefour
will be a civil plaintiff in a criminal suit launched over
the weekend against a trader accused of knowingly selling
an infected cow to a slaughterhouse earlier this month,
the company said Monday.
Claude
Demeulenaere, 65, was formally placed under investigation
- one step short of being charged - on Sunday, along with
his wife and son. Each faces up to four years in jail.
Veterinary
inspectors at a Normandy slaughterhouse spotted a cow showing
signs of mad cow disease on Oct. 10 and separated it from
the herd. But meat from 11 animals in the same herd was
purchased by Carrefour. France systematically slaughters
the herd of a contaminated cow as a precaution.
Agriculture
Minister Jean Glavany, in a bid to calm growing concern,
said Sunday it was not certain whether the suspect meat
posed a threat to public health.
Since
the scandal broke over the weekend, there have been a growing
number of calls for the government to develop stricter tests
to prevent similar incidents.
The
Green Party, a member of the governing leftist coalition,
said it showed the investigation into the disease's spread
must go deeper and punishment should be more far-reaching.
Denis
Baupin, the party's spokesman, said Monday that legal action
should not only target the trader who sells an infected
cow but also the farmer who sells infected feed to the trader.
In
Belgium, the agriculture ministry on Monday announced two
new cases of mad cow disease and destroyed more than 100
animals in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading.
The
two new cases brought the total for Belgium up to eight
this year and 18 overall.
One
case was discovered in northern Vorselaar on Oct. 11 and
another in southern Ville-en-Hesbaye nine days earlier.
In Vorselaar, a herd of 86 animals was destroyed as a precaution
while 19 were killed in Ville-en-Hesbaye.
The
government is investigating how the animals became infected,
the ministry said.
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