This week's In the News looks at France's hesitancy to lift the European Union's ban on import of British beef. The ban was first set in place in March 1996 after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalophy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, in Britain. Although the EU lifted the ban in August, France refuses to allow imported beef from the UK, siting continuing fears of an outbreak of BSE. Throughout...

Released on October 26, this long-awaited report from the UK government on BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) and CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) is based on oral and written evidence from over 600 witnesses including scientists, farmers, private industry, senior civil servants, local authorities, former ministers and families of victims of variant CJD. Among its most important findings are...

The discovery of a cow carrying BSE in the United States has reenergized the public's interest in such topics. This site, an offshoot of the WHO site devoted to diseases, offers a good overview of the disease and its similar nature to that of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- the form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that can affect humans. Also of note at this site is a exceptionally...