The worldwide export ban was imposed in March 1996, in response to the announcement of a suspected link between BSE in cattle and the human equivalent of the disease, CJD.

BBC: British beef fightback starts

After the meeting, Hueston was headed for England, where he serves on the British committee of scientists that found there may be a link between that country's bovine disease and a rare but fatal human equivalent called Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, or CJD.

CNN: USDA: American burgers still safe