The Health and Welfare Ministry has decided to ban the use of ingredients taken from cattle in 29 mainly European countries for medicines and other products in light of growing concern over mad cow disease, ministry officials said Tuesday.
The move was made in response to intensifying alarm about the safety of drugs and other products that include ingredients taken from cattle, sheep and other animals, the officials said.
Europe has recently been shaken with renewed fears about mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Regulations mainly regarding cattle and some other animals raised in Britain were enforced in 1996, but the ministry has decided to expand the scope of its ban in view of fears of widespread BSE contamination.
The expanded ban covers ruminants such as sheep and goats.
The strengthened regulations ban the use of ingredients taken from animals in nine countries -- including Britain, Switzerland, France and Oman -- for pharmaceutical products, medical devices and cosmetics.
Aside from the nine countries that have already reported cases of BSE, the ban includes 20 others considered to be at high risk of a BSE outbreak.
In addition, internal organs such as brains, eyes and intestines taken from ruminants in countries other than the 29 have been prohibited, according to the ministry officials.
The ministry has instructed all manufacturers to carry out inspections and document within one month the origins of components and manufacturing sites of every product.
BSE first made headlines in March 1996 when British authorities announced a possible link with its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal brain disorder.