Consideration of Risk Variations in Japan Derived from the Proposed Revisions of the Current Countermeasures against BSE

Abstract

The Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) conducted assessments on human health risks associated with the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) agent, in response to requests from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW). FSCJ conducted risk assessments under the assumption that the present feed control measures are maintained in Japan, the US, Canada, France and the Netherlands. The assessments were also based on the current BSE status and infection risks in cattle in these countries, and interspecies barrier of BSE transmission between cattle and humans. Consequently, FSCJ concludes that in these countries, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is highly unlikely to develop in association with consumption of BSE prions through meat and offal (excluding the tonsils and distal ileum) from cattle at or under 30 months of age. Conclusions on the domestic and border measures are as follows: 1) Domestic measures: Negligible influences to human health are predicted from the changes in the age limit for BSE testing of cattle in Japan from the current 20 months to 30 months; changes in definition on age of specified risk materials (SRMs: skull excluding tonsils, spinal cord and vertebral column) from "all ages" to "over 30 months of age" in Japan have negligible influences to human health: 2) Border measures: Negligible influences to human health are predicted from the changes in the age restriction from the current 20 months to 30 months on cattle meat and offal imported from the US and Canada; negligible influences to human health are predicted between the current ban and implementation of the age restriction of 30 month on import of cattle meat and offal from France and the Netherlands; changes in definition on age of SRMs (skull excluding tonsils, spinal cord and vertebral column) from "all ages" (equivalent to "import ban" for France and the Netherland) have negligible influences to human health.