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Doctors stage US beef-eating event to dispel mad cow fears
Sitting at tables with built-in grills, leading South Korean doctors and business executives ate US beef yesterday in a bid to dispel public health fears.
- AP
- Published: 00:04 July 10, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- South Korean doctors eat US beef during a sampling party at a local restaurant in Seoul.
Seoul: Sitting at tables with built-in grills, leading South Korean doctors and business executives ate US beef yesterday in a bid to dispel public health fears.
The 19 physicians and executives ate American sirloin, with one top doctor saying it "tastes good and tender" and telling fellow South Koreans not to worry about getting mad cow disease from eating US beef.
"There is no food whatsoever that we can say is 100 per cent safe," said Choo Soo-ho, head of the Korean Medical Association, South Korea's largest doctors' lobby.
"But I can say the chance of catching mad cow disease (from eating US beef) is nearly zero per cent."
South Korea's agreement in April to resume imports of US beef sparked near-daily street protests over mad cow disease concerns because the deal called for scrapping most restrictions the country had previously maintained over fears of the illness.
Unrelenting protests forced Seoul to negotiate an amendment to the April deal last month to import only beef from younger cattle considered less at risk of the disease.
Choo said fears of mad cow disease were "not verified and sometimes exaggerated" and were threatening to hurt the economy.
"Eat it without any uneasiness. I can guarantee (the safety) by staking the honour of the Korean Medical Association," Moon Tai-joon, honorary chairman of the doctors' association, told reporters.
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