Lee Seeks to Quell Mad-Cow Scaremongers

President Lee Myung-bak expressed concern Friday that the U.S. beef safety issue was being politicized by the opposition parties and progressive civic groups amid whirling rumors among the public about the dangers of mad cow disease.

President Lee Myung-bak

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak expressed concern Friday that the U.S. beef safety issue was being politicized by the opposition parties and progressive civic groups amid whirling rumors among the public about the dangers of mad cow disease.

Lee directed his Cabinet ministers to come up with comprehensive measures to publicize the truth and myths about the safety of American beef, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woo-chun also justified the safety of American beef, saying the number of mad cow cases has been drastically cut with improved control of protein-based feed that has been cited as a cause of the brain-wasting disease. However, he currently faces a lawsuit for refusing to make public the agreement made between Korea and the United States on Seoul's import of U.S. beef.

The main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) slammed the government for what it said was the irresponsible decision to open the beef market wider at the risk of the people's health.

President Lee said, ``Imports of U.S. beef are directly related to the people's livelihood. So the government and the governing party are obliged to publicize the facts about it to help the convince the public of its safety,'' Lee said in his weekly meeting with Kang Jae-sup, chairman of the Grand National Party (GNP), at Cheong Wa Dae.

``(Parties) should not approach this issue from a political perspective, causing social unrest,'' he added.

The President also called on the National Assembly to ratify the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States at an early date, saying the pact would offer a great opportunity to revive the country's economy, said the spokesman.

``Parliamentary ratification of the agreement would inject vitality into the economy during a clouded economic outlook,'' Lee said.

The landmark trade deal has not been ratified by either South Korea's National Assembly or the U.S. Congress.

In Seoul, the ratification faces opposition from liberal lawmakers and progressive civic groups, following the government's decision last month to resume imports of U.S. beef.

South Korea banned all imports in 2003 due to fears of mad cow disease. It eased the ban in 2006 but still excluded bone-in-beef and other items. The country suspended imports again last October after banned materials were found in a shipment.

Seoul now plans to allow the import of most cuts of beef, including ribs which were previously banned, from cattle aged under 30 months. Imports from cattle aged 30 months or older will also be allowed when the U.S. applies stricter controls to protein-based feed.

Public alarm has been growing about the safety of U.S. beef propelled by a series of reports about mad cow disease.

An MBC report Tuesday claimed 94 percent of Koreans have a gene that makes them more susceptible than Americans and British people to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human variant of mad cow disease, and this makes Koreans two to three more times likely than them to contract the disease.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee dismissed the report as groundless.

``Japan with about 1 million head of cattle has reported about 30 cases of mad cow disease,'' he said. ``By contrast, only three instances of mad cow disease have broken out in the U.S. which has about 100 million head of cattle,'' the spokesman said.

He went on to say that Seoul's market opening was agreed to because all relevant preconditions, including the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) regulations on the prevention of mad cow disease, set by the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration had been reached.

Agriculture Minister Chung said, ``After control of protein based feeds were implemented in August 1997, there have been only three confirmed cases in the United States,'' Chung said in a joint news conference in Seoul with Health and Welfare Minister Kim Soung-yee.

Chung said some 37,000 cases were reported in 1992, but the numbers have been cut to a few isolated cases in recent years.

Imported beef from the United States will come from butchering and meat processing facilities that have met proper standards and are regulated by experts, he added.

The government plans to introduce methods to track local cattle and beef and to reinforce country-of-origin rules for imported beef so that local consumers will be able to choose the beef they want.

The conservative GNP accused the MBC report of mad-cow scaremongering among the public on the basis of wrong facts.

``Claims by some lawmakers and reports that imports of U.S. beef would spread mad cow disease are just to inflame and panic the public,'' said GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo. ``They should present convincing evidence for their claims to the Assembly.''

UDP Co-chairman Sohn Hak-kyu called for renegotiating the imports.

``We firmly support stronger Korea-U.S. relations, but it's wrong that the President cedes our people's quarantine authority just because of his own political purpose,'' Sohn said. ``Our party will legislate a special bill to strengthen the quarantine measures on imported beef.''

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr