Eight new cases of BSE in France

The new cases raise to 241 the number of BSE-infected cows detected in France since 1991, when the epidemic first broke out. In 2000, 153 cases of BSE were found in the country. On Tuesday, the French government began a programme of testing all cows over the age of 30 months for the disease.

French Farms Minister Jean Glavany said on Thursday that the government's objective of testing 20,000 cows every week would be attained by next week. "We are in the process of accepting laboratories (of analysis) to cover the entire national territory," Glavany told the radio station Europe 1.

(la/dpa)