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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Agriculture minister admits withholding documents predicting BSE outbreak 'for fear of losing U.S. trust'

Japanese Agriculture Minister Nakagawa Shoichi on March 27 admitted that the government didn't make public the agricultural ministry's documents predicting the outbreak of BSE in the United States "for fear of losing U.S. trust" and continued until December 2003 to allow U.S. beef to be imported without the removal of dangerous parts. He said, "We concluded that our relationship of trust with the U.S. will be damaged if Japan makes such data public without U.S. agreement."

Nakagawa stated this in answer to Japanese Communist Party representative Kami Tomoko at the House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting.

The documents that predicted the outbreak of BSE in the U.S. were minutes of the Japanese agriculture ministry's technical investigation committee on BSE meetings and its report for the assessment of the BSE risk compiled in November 2002. In 2003, the ministry allowed the import of 40 kilograms of cow brain, the most risky part, and 70 tons of beef with backbone intact from the U.S.

"If the ministry had made public these documents, the import of high risk parts of beef would have been prevented earlier," Kami said.
- Akahata, March 28, 2006