BRUSSELS -- The European Union estimated on Monday that the price tag of dealing with the mad-cow crisis across Europe would cost it about $1 billion, possibly putting other agricultural programs at risk.
The EU's executive office said the costs of carrying out mandated tests for the disease on cattle over 30 months, in addition to spending money on a so-called "purchase for destruction" program, could cut deeply into the EU's agricultural budget for this year.
Mad cow, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a brain-wasting ailment that scientists believe is linked to a human variant, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease.
"It is quite reasonable that [bovine spongiform encephalopathy] measures are going to cost money," said EU spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber.
To combat the disease and restore public confidence in beef consumption, EU countries this month initiated a mass slaughter program, which foresees buying and incinerating up to two million head of cattle by the end of June.
"The additional costs as compared to the budget 2001 ... amount to one billion euro," Mr. Kreuzhuber said.
EU countries also began requiring all cattle over 30 months to be proven disease-free before the beef can be sold. Meat from any old cattle that isn't tested cannot be consumed.
Mr. Kreuzhuber said additional funding beyond committed money by EU governments were at this point "not on," but added that this could change if beef consumption within the 15-nation bloc continued to drop.
Beef sales have slumped by 27% across the EU as a result of the latest outbreak.
"If the severe crisis in the beef market persists, there are two options," he said.
The EU could either decide on increasing the agricultural budget or could absorb the costs and draw the funds from other programs, Mr. Kreuzhuber said. The EU set aside an emergency fund of around one billion euro ($934.4 million) in its last agricultural policy reform agreement, which was negotiated in 1999.
Meanwhile, Italy's government, alarmed by Europe's mad-cow crisis, is considering a prohibition on beef cuts containing the vertebral column, such as the T-bone steaks and Tuscany's famous delicacy, the fiorentina, health minister Umberto Veronesi said. Italy, which long considered itself free of the disease, discovered its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy this month, after beginning a mandatory testing program for animals older than 30 months on Jan. 1.
Nearly 90 people are believed to have died in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe from the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. On Friday, scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended additional steps to protect U.S. residents from Europe's continuing epidemic of the disease.
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