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THIS was the year Europe finally owned up to the mad cows in its midst. For years, scientists had been telling just about every European country that they had fed way too many British cattle to their herds to be as free of BSE as they claimed. Now that better surveillance has revealed dozens of unsuspected cases across the continent, the truth is starting to emerge.

Just how bad is it? We’ll find out next year, when a massive and unprecedented biochemical campaign will begin in the European Union. Millions of slaughtered cows will be tested for BSE.

Why does…

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