Time to relax BSE rules?

Britain is thinking about relaxing the strict rules designed to keep beef free of BSE. The national Food Standards Agency announced last week that it is to review rules forbidding the sale of meat from animals more than 30 months old. The ban was put in place in 1996 to ensure that people didn’t eat cattle old enough to harbour BSE. But the number of BSE cases has dropped steadily since 1997, and the FSA now thinks the time is right to check whether the precautions are still necessary. “As with all the BSE controls, this rule should be maintained…