BERLIN -- German Agriculture Minister Karl-Heinz Funke said on Tuesday a six-month European Union ban on using meat and bone meal (MBM) due to take effect on January 1 was too short.
But Funke said he was confident the ban, included in a package of measures agreed by EU farm ministers on Monday during emergency talks aimed at halting the spread of mad cow disease, would be extended.
"It's not enough that the EU ban on meat-based feeds will initially last for six months," Funke told WDR 2 Radio.
Scientists have linked MBM to the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the EU ban aims to prevent the spread of BSE's fatal human equivalent, new Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (VCJD).
Funke said the switch from animal-based to vegetable-based proteins, necessitated by the ban, would require major investments in planting new crops.
"You can only achieve that, and expect that, namely that more beans and seeds are planted, if you say you are quitting (animal-based proteins) in the long-term," he said.
Only a few weeks ago, Funke resisted banning MBM in animal feeds because of the huge costs it would cause.
But he reversed his position after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder publicly called for an EU-wide ban on the feeds.
In a separate interview with German radio, Funke said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the ban would be extended.
Germany, shocked by the discovery last month of the first two cases of mad cow disease in German-born cattle, imposed its own ban on MBM in all livestock feed on Saturday.
(Reuter)