The Veneman-Kamei letters explained
By Richard Hanson
DTN Tokyo Correspondent
TOKYO (DTN)--What began in early April as a botched exchange of toughly written letters between U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman and a normally reticent Yoshiyuki Kamei, Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, may yet produce some positive moves toward efforts to resume American beef exports to Japan.
Earlier in April, Japanese diplomats said U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney may raise the issue of Japan's import ban on U.S. beef during his four-day visit.
But be forewarned, this is the mad cow disease talking. And when BSE is involved, political brains rot, and diplomats find it hard to identify even specified risk materials--SRMs, in the jargon--in the tea leaves.
Veneman's letter to Kamei proposed Japan and America jointly approach the World Organization for Animal Health, the Paris-based OIE, and "request expedited technical consultations."
A senior official at a press briefing quickly rejected that idea. Veneman was peeved to hear the rejection through the press.
DTN has learned the key to reading Kamei's reply, which was issued April 2 in response to Veneman's initial March 29 letter, is the absence of a specific mention of Japan's rigid stance on the "test-all" policy it has for U.S. beef.
The test-all policy came about after Japan discovered its first case of BSE in 2001. The government adopted a policy of testing all of its domestic cattle destined for slaughter, about 1.2 million head a year, for BSE. The USDA thinks a test-all policy is overkill.
Instead, Kamei's letter to Veneman simply said to solve the issue of assessing the BSE risk in the U.S., it is necessary for the two sides to agree on what "scientific knowledge" has been attained and to conduct sufficient "risk communication" by targeting consumers. Kamei is really talking about testing all cows.
USDA announced a program March 15 that would test up to 268,000 head of cattle, which the Japanese said falls very short of what it wants.
"Careful discussions are necessary if we are to assess the BSE risk in the United States before seeing the result of the surveillance, which forms the basis for BSE measures," the Kamei's letter said in translation from the Japanese. "Therefore, I think it is impossible to conclude this issue by the end of April unless the U.S. Government implements the same measures as we do."
In April's first few days, Kamei brushed off the idea of bringing the U.S.-Japan deadlock on BSE testing to the OIE. His April 2 letter expounded on the reasons for rejecting the idea of discussions through the Paris organization, saying the Japanese public would not accept it
"Dear Secretary Veneman: Thank you for your letter dated March 29, 2004. I was expecting that you would make an appropriate proposal that is in accordance with Japanese consumers' wishes and in consideration of the progress through a series of ministerial and administrative consultations between the United States and Japan.
"However, you proposed that we should consult in the framework of the OIE to resolve the issue of beef trade between our countries, an issue caused by the BSE case in the United States. It is truly regrettable to receive a proposal which is made without proper considerations to our progress so far."
The Japanese letter was formal and polite. There were no references to seasonal cherry blossoms, as was the case in Veneman's letter. Kamei made a point of sticking to the previous meetings between the two countries following the Dec. 23 announcement of America's first BSE case.
"As you are aware, fundamental elements of the current BSE code of the OIE are reviewed every year. For instance, safe materials, specified risk materials (SRMs) and the standard for surveillance will be discussed in this year's general session in May, and the risk categorization/status of countries will be discussed in next year's general session. Unless the OIE rules are established so that Japan can also agree with them, it is difficult, and our public would not be convinced, to refer to the discussion by the OIE experts for settling the issue ignoring the schedule of the above OIE general session."
Kamei said in his letter Japan won't accept a pared-down proposal from the U.S.
"In order to solve this issue I think it is essential to form our consensus about the scientific knowledge and to conduct sufficient risk communication targeting consumers. I fear that if the U.S. government attempts to force Japan into trade resumption without going through such processes, the prestige of U.S. beef in the Japanese market may be undermined.
"Therefore, I strongly request that the United States make an appropriate proposal expeditiously based on the progress made through our previous consultations. Japan is ready to engage in a consultation with the United States at any time.
"It is necessary and important for the U.S. to provide us with relevant information so that we can continue scientific and technical dialogues to reach consensus on this issue expeditiously."
What Kamei wants is a follow-up meeting from the last time to two sides sat down to talk at the end of January in Tokyo. Japan also wants a response to questions left from a Japanese fact-finding mission to the U.S. and Canada last January.
Kamei said he "strongly hopes for the next meeting to be held at the earliest convenience so that this issue will be resolved soon."
Veneman was also adding her public voice to the discussion in a speech in Washington D.C. this week.
"We recently proposed to them that we take this issue to the international organization that oversees animal diseases, called the OIE, based in Paris," she said at the National Press Club. "We thought it was reasonable--it would be a science-based solution and the Japanese decided to reject that proposal, although I can tell you we were very disappointed, because we thought it gave a reasonable way in which to do that.
"So it's difficult at this point to predict when we will see the Japanese market opened again to U.S. beef."
Date: 4/22/04
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