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The Belgian agriculture ministry last week asked the US Department of
Agriculture to return the sheep that have sparked a health scare in Vermont. The
sheep were imported from Belgium in 1996, but the US government ordered their
incineration after suggestions that four offspring of the original stock carried
BSE—the cattle disease linked with new variant CJD in people
(New Scientist, 22 July, p 5). Now
the Belgian authorities say the US has denied
them access to some lab results and they want the sheep back alive so they can
carry out their own tests. The animals’ owners have volunteered to pay the
transport costs.