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World Organization for Animal Health expert panel has classified
U.S. beef as a "controlled risk" for bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
which will allow Washington to lean more heavily on Seoul
to open its meat market.
"If the initial ruling by the expert panel is approved by
the OIE's general conference planned for late May in Paris,
the United States will be in a position to demand great
market access," a S. Korean agriculture official told Yonhap
news agency on the condition of anonymity.
"Controlled risk" is the middle ranking in OIE's three-tiered
classification scheme, and normally applies to a country
with a record of having BSE cases but with a proven ability
to contain the disease. "Negligible risk," the top ranking,
applies to countries determined to be safe from the disease,
and "undetermined risk," the lowest level, applies to countries
whose danger levels cannot be fully determined.
U.S. officials have consistently argued that S. Korea should
fully reopen its market to U.S. beef because the product
is a minimal risk for BSE. Seoul has maintained its stance
on rejecting any boxes of U.S. beef containing banned bone
fragments, but has offered as a compromise to release the
remainder of shipments into commerce.
The expert panel's classification will likely become the
position of the entire OIE, which consists of 170 member
nations. "Member states are not obliged to follow the OIE
stance, although if we do not we need to provide clear,
detailed and scientific evidence to refute it," the S. Korean
official said.
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