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TOKYO (AP) - Japan moved a step closer to lifting its 20-month ban on American beef imports Tuesday as the nation's food-safety panel roughly agreed the risk that U.S. beef is infected with mad cow disease is extremely low, an agricultural ministry official said.
A panel of the Food Safety Commission has been discussing whether Japan should resume American beef imports. The country banned them after the first case of mad cow was found in that country in December 2003.
"As long as the conditions of export to Japan are strictly followed, we believe the possibility of contamination with BSE prions is extremely low," according to the draft published on the panel's Web site. Prions are agents believed to cause mad cow disease.
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