-Caveat Lector-
>From TheIndependent (UK)
{{<Begin>}}
GERMANY BACKS FRENCH FEARS OVER BRITISH BEEF
GERMANY HAS backed France's call for a further scientific study of the safety
of British beef, in a move that deals a significant blow to hopes of a full
lifting of the ban on UK exports.
The German health ministry's request puts pressure on the European Commission
to re-open the entire issue of the safety of British beef, rather than start
legal proceedings against Paris for failing to lift the ban. Such a move would
delay the ending of the embargo in France and Germany, and could cause the
agreement permitting the sale of UK beef to unravel.
Last week the French suspended legal moves to end the beef embargo - imposed in
the wake of the BSE crisis - because of the findings of its independent food
safety council. Today Paris will give the EC details of the scientific basis
for its conclusions in a report expected to run to 300 pages.
Meanwhile, the German health minister, Andrea Fischer, will use a meeting in
Brussels today to press for the French dossier to receive formal examination by
the EU's scientific and veterinary committee. That position has found favour
with Denmark, and Paris expects other countries, including Belgium, to back it.
The British argue that the French have uncovered no new evidence. An official
said: "We expect that the French dossier will not contribute any new scientific
evidence. We expect it to be dismissed very quickly by the commissioner."
But a French official said the report contains "new evidence in terms of
statistics which give a clear indication that the trend of contamination in
Great Britain is not reducing as it was supposed to".
One option is for the health commissioner, David Byrne, to refer the French
report to a sub group of the scientific and veterinary committee next Thursday,
then on to the full committee a few days later. That would be a bitter blow for
the British who won political agreement last November to lift the ban which was
removed formally on 1 August after extensive checks on British abattoirs.
Germany opposed removal of the ban on British beef. Out-voted on the issue, it
has failed to allow British beef into the country until its upper house has
agreed to amend the law. The German letter to the EC argued that it will be
unable to win support for the required legal changes unless a new EU scientific
verdict on the French report has been given.
The French food safety council said that Britain still expects around 3,000
cases of BSE this year, an instance of 650 cases per million head of cattle
compared with between 1.5 and 2 per million in France. It suggests waiting
until 2001 to assess the success of the British measures. It also raised doubts
about British contentions that cattle are being contaminated only by maternal
transmission and contaminated animal feed.
This week the EC president, Romano Prodi, called for the "precautionary
principle" in dealing with food safety issues. Paris argues that it is in line
with that.
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{{<Begin>}}
SAFETY LEVELS LOWER ON THIS SIDE OF TUNNEL, SAYS EUROSTAR DRIVER: PADDINGTON
TRAIN DISASTER
France
A FRENCH Eurostar train driver described yesterday how he felt his train
"became more dangerous" when it passed through the Channel Tunnel.
"Once you arrive in England at the controls of a Eurostar, the levels of safety
fall rapidly," Gerard Tavernier told Le Parisien. "The train can go through a
red light at high speed without being stopped. There is no automatic stopping
system. Everything depends on the driver. The slightest human error can be
fatal."
His comments - and others in France yesterday - fail to take account of older
safety devices that have existed on UK railways for more than half a century.
It is not possible for a driver to go through a red light in Britain without
acknowledging - and then ignoring - a warning hooter in the cab.
However, the remarks drew attention to the huge technological advances in train
security made on the Continent in the past six years.
In October 1991 the driver of a night express from the south ignored a red
light at Melun, near Paris; 11 people died in a collision with a freight train.
The driver had heard and acknowledged the warning hooter in his cab - the same
system that has existed in Britain since the 1930s - but he had unaccountably
gone through the red light anyway.
The French state railways, the SNCF, decided soon after to install a second,
more advanced system of radar-based train control. The system is broadly
similar to the automatic train protection (ATP) system that was recommended in
the UK after the Clapham Junction disaster but rejected as too costly.
The system works through radar, speed detectors in the tracks, which
automatically stop a train before a red light if the driver has failed to slow
in response to a warning amber at the previous signal. Installation on every
kilometre of French railway line - at a cost of about pounds 1bn - began in
1993. Three quarters of the network, including all high-speed and main lines,
are now equipped. It will be fitted on all lines by 2003.
Since the modernisation began, no train has passed a light on red in France on
an upgraded line. This compares with an estimated 600 occurrences in the UK
last year.
French railway officials refused yesterday to be quoted on the success of their
system. But Mr Tavernier had no difficulty making the claim: "An accident [like
Paddington] could never happen over here."
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