Ban on import of live animals sought
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The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday sought a ban on import of live animals from the developed world saying that it can threaten lives of people and livestock.
The government has recently allowed import of live animals from western countries facing mad cow disease since decades without considering its consequences, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He said that there is no facility to know or treat the mysterious disease in Pakistan which has claimed lives of hundreds of people and millions of mammals in the developed world.
Pakistan lifted the ban after thirteen years due to western pressure which is against the national interests, he added.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that as soon as the ban was lifted, an official of the TDAP imported hundreds of cattle heads to sell milk and meat in Karachi exposing people to great hazards.
He said that mad cow disease is a transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle.
If a person eats meat of an infected cow, he or she will be exposed to a human form of the disease, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very serious illness that affects the brain.
