Japan last week confirmed its first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human version of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The disease is said to spread through the consumption of beef products from cows infected with BSE. In Britain, which reported a high incidence of BSE in the 1990s, 148 people have died of vCJD so far. The Japanese case involves a man in his 50s who is believed to have contracted the disease during his stay in Britain in 1989. He died in December.
A further investigation by the health ministry is needed to find out precisely how the man got infected. Consumers can rest assured, though, that there is no risk of infection from eating beef now on the domestic market. This is because all slaughtered cows are tested and all high-risk parts removed under the rules that came into force after the first BSE case was confirmed here in 2001.
Nevertheless the government should provide as much information as possible on the latest outbreak and the safety of beef. The kind of confusion that occurred in 2001 must be prevented. Basically, consumers need not worry, not only because the safety of beef in distribution is guaranteed but also because it is unlikely that new vCJD patients will appear.