BRUSSELS - A key European Union advisory committee meets on Thursday to clarify its position on the proposed import ban on beef by-products which threatens to blow up into a major trade war with the United States.
The EU is proposing to ban from 1998 the import of tallow and tallow-derived products over fears they may carry mad cow disease or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and transmit its deadly equivalent CJD (Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease) to humans.
But scientific opinion has been open to interpretation, with some believing it offers exemption to tallow derivatives made using certain strict processes and others saying it does not.
Tallow, a by-product of the rendering industry which slaughters animals, is widely used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
"There needs to be clarification on this issue and we're hoping the committee can provide it," one EU official commented.
An import block on tallow is regarded seriously enough by Washington, but a recommendation from the Multi-disciplinary Scientific Committee to include its derivatives would jeopardise billions of dollars worth of trade, much with the United States.
The European Commission is not bound by the scientists' decision but usually takes the advice very seriously.
The United States has called the proposed ban unscientific and said the EU was sowing the seeds of a trade war. It has threatened to take it to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"This is an extremely serious issue with potential to disrupt billions of dollars of trade. The regulations being contemplated have absolutely no scientific basis," a spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said.
The EU says it took the step on grounds of food safety, but officials now admit the full consequences of the ban were not originally envisaged.
The scientific committee issued a statement on September 8 which indicated if specified production processes were followed, then tallow derivatives could be regarded as safe. But sources say opinions in the European Commission are divided.
Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler is thought to believe the original advice meant there was no "risk free" option.
He had his hand strengthened by separate scientific advice, which stated that, despite no evidence of BSE in the United States, there was no guarantee it would escape it in future. As a result, the EU has refused to grant the United States the special status of being free of TSEs (transmissable spongiform encephalopathies) -- diseases such as BSE and scrapie.
But even those who advocate a complete ban on tallow-derived products admit there must be some exceptions and rules are almost certain to be relaxed for some life-saving drugs, where risk of BSE or CJD transmission is outweighed by their benefits.
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