HEALTH-SPAIN: Mad Cow Scare Claims Political Victim

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Jan 19 2001 (IPS) - The European crisis arising from mad cow disease claimed its first political victim in Spain as the government’s director general of livestock, Quintiliano Pérez Bonilla, resigned Friday.

Government spokesman Pío Cabanillas reported that Pérez Bonilla stepped down on his own initiative and that the administration of José María Aznar considers his record to be irreproachable

In addition to serving as director general of livestock, the official was secretary of the crisis committee the government created to handle the mad cow crisis that began last Nov 22.

On that date, two cases of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), were detected in Spain. The consumption of infected beef causes new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) in humans, an incurable brain-wasting illness that is fatal.

The two animals diagnosed with BSE were found in Galicia, the autonomous community located in Spain’s extreme northwest. The government of Galicia ordered their immediate destruction and incineration, a fate that also met the 46 other cows that had contact with them.

Authorities also ordered that all cattle over 30 months old be tested for BSE.

Since then, new cases have been detected and there has been a marked reduction in beef consumption. This new dynamic has damaged the livestock industry here, and has even taken a bite out of beef import orders from countries free of the disease, such as Argentina.

Miguel Arias Cañete, agriculture minister, announced Thursday that over the next six months 180,000 cows older than 30 months will be destroyed. “The Spanish abattoir are prepared to slaughter them and the incineration plants” to dispose of them, he added.

Meanwhile, the president of the Autonomous Community of Galicia and long-time leader of the nationally governing Popular Party (PP), Manuel Fraga, cautioned that “within a few weeks we will also have to incinerate pigs, sheep and any animal that dies from natural or accidental causes on Spanish farms.”

Animal-based livestock feed, which includes offal from sheep, pigs and chickens, is likely the principal transmitting agent of the disease, according to health experts.

In livestock circles, Fraga’s statements were interpreted to refer to a ban on using the remains of animals that died of natural causes in manufacturing feed, a practice that had been in effect until now.

The crisis that brought about Pérez Bonilla’s resignation was triggered when the Ser radio station, owned by the same group that publishes ‘El País’ newspaper, reported Tuesday that the former official’s wife holds interests in the pork industry.

In addition, Bonilla’s son is head of a company that manufactures feed that includes cattle remains, according to the Ser report.

Pérez Bonilla immediately denied all charges and said he had no reason to resign. Three days later, he changed his mind, but maintains his innocence.

The opposition Socialist Party of Spanish Workers (PSOE) issued a statement that there are no guarantees that the disease will not be transmitted to humans.

The PSOE parliamentary spokesman, Jesús Caldera, charged that farmers “are illegally abandoning the high-risk remains of dead animals,” in reference to carcasses disposed of in abandoned mines or simply abandoned in the fields.

Caldera added that livestock veterinarians would not take responsibility for signing health certifications for each animal because it is impossible to comply with regulations. He also said that slaughterhouses do not know what to do with high-risk animal remains.

Agricultural minister Arias Cañete affirmed that all carcasses could be incinerated.

The government reached agreements with cement companies to process as much of the meal as possible as a way to eliminate the more than 1.7 million tons of animal remains produced in Spain annually.

Given the mobilisation of cattle raisers, who are demanding millions of dollars in compensation for their animal losses and for the fall in demand for beef, and faced with the criticisms launched by the opposition, Pérez Bonilla may be the first political victim of the mad cow crisis, but he is unlikely to be the last.