ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to lift a ban on import of live animals from countries with ‘negligible risk’ of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as ‘mad cow disease’, official sources said.

They said the Ministry of Commerce vetted the proposal to lift the ban in consultation with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, and it was felt that allowing import of live animals from ‘low-risk countries’ would benefit Pakistan’s livestock industry because the country’s importers would be able to source their animals from multiple countries and breeds.

The lifting of the ban will bring the country’s import regime in line with the guidelines set by the Office of International des Epizooties (OIE) of the World Animal Health Organisation, according to the two ministries.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet had on agenda of its previous meeting the proposal to lift the ban, but deferred the matter to its next meeting.

Following the joint meeting of the two ministries, the commerce ministry decided that the ban on import of animals from the countries affected by ‘mad cow disease’ would remain in place. However, import from the ones termed ‘negligible risk countries’ by the OIE should be allowed.

The permission would be granted on the condition that animals from only the herds with no incidence of BSE in the last 11 years would be imported and this fact should be certified by the authority concerned of the exporting country.

At the same time, it was decided that ban on import of feeds containing meat and bone meal would continue and should be strictly followed.

It was also decided that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research would carry out a ‘mad cow risk assessment’ exercise and submit an application to the OIE for categorisation of Pakistan as a “BSE Negligible Risk Country”, the sources said.

Ironically, it is difficult to detect the disease in live animals because no test for it is currently available in Pakistan. The post-slaughter diagnosis is made through medical examination of brain tissues and other vulnerable body parts like spinal cord.

The Paris-based OIE — an inter-governmental organisation with 152 countries including Pakistan as its members –currently classifies countries into three categories, ‘negligible BSE risk’, ‘controlled BSE risk’ and ‘undetermined BSE risk’. The OIE updates the risk status on a regular basis, and the last ranking was done in May last year.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that dairy and livestock are among the most progressive sectors of Pakistan’s economy, the government has allowed import of most of the dairy cattle from Australia.

However, other countries like the United States and Canada have been agitating that Pakistan should review its existing import policy pertaining to live animals and animal products in light of the revised rankings done by the OIE.

Pakistani exporters have also been making similar demands with a view to diversifying their sources of imports.

In order to protect and safeguard domestic cattle stock as well as the exports of meat and other bovine products, the commerce ministry imposed a ban in 2001 on the import of live animals from mad cow disease-infected countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Holland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Canada and the United States.