Koizumi acknowledges government responsibility for BSE

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro has at last acknowledged that the government is responsible for its misgovernment in dealing with cows infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

Apparently denying Agriculture Minister Takebe Tsutomu's assertion, Koizumi said that no one can blame farmers and consumers for causing confusions in the BSE problem, and promised to establish a comprehensive policy to solve it.

Koizumi was responding at the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 13 to a question posed by Nakabayashi Yoshiko of the Japanese Communist Party.

Nakabayashi criticized the government for ignoring the 1996 WHO recommendation that Japan ban the use of meat and bone meal, and the Koizumi cabinet for withdrawing its request to the European Union for an assessment oof the BSE outbreak before the report was made.

Koizumi, as the prime minister, must bear the responsibility for causing and aggravating the matter, maintained the JCP Dietwoman.

Based on thorough research, Nakabayashi demanded that the government compensate for damages to farmers and dealers concerned. (end)