On June 21, 2001, Stephanie Strom,
writing in the NY Times, exposed attempts by the Japanese
Government to hide from its citizens
and residents a report by the European Commision that says
Mad Cow Disease could strike Japan.
It is also here:
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/lyman/messages/9566.html
Surprisingly, there has been almost no news in the domestic press about this report.
Letters to all the major media orgainzations
have yield absolute silence,
suggesting collusion between the
government and the press through the
so-called "Kisha Clubs" to which
most of the media belong. If an organization defies
the club, they will lose the right
to attend briefings by government ministries, etc.
However, this begs the question
what there would be to report anyway, since the
government hold tight control over
the information it allows to be published.
In addition, on June 21 2001, the following was posted on the MEAT NEWS Website:
http://www.meatnews.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&artNum=1293
"Japan has raised objections to a report from the European
Commission that says the country has a risk of getting cases of BSE
The Japanese Government has blocked the publication of a report
from the European Commission, which states that BSE could
theoretically break out in the country.
The report is part of the European Commission's global study of the
degree of risk of BSE in different countries outside the EU.
The Commission said that Japan has withdrawn its request to have
the report adopted and published because it is believed to imply that
Japan is at risk from the disease.
Until now Japan has prided itself on its BSE-free status.
The Commission had assessed that Japan was at risk because the
country had imported live cattle in the past from countries that have
had the disease and also because it had imported bonemeal from
Britain. The assessment was made using data supplied by the
Japanese government.
Japan, however, said the risk of the disease was minimal as most of
the bonemeal imported was used as fertiliser.
Web posted: June 21, 2001
Category: Food Safety
harris@wattpub.demon.co.uk"
Also, the Agence France Press published this on June 17:
http://www.purefood.org/madcow/tokyo61701.cfm
Forbes had this on June 18 from Reuters
http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2001/06/18/rtr283592.html
The Independent published this on June 19: