There were also those who felt that the incidence of new variant CJD in humans was not enough to warrant a ban.

BBC: Verdict favours British beef

The beef-on-the-bone ban was imposed on the industry in 1997 after fears over new variant CJD, suspected of being the human form of mad cow disease.

BBC: News Online

The latest figures from the Department of Health show that up to 31 December last year a total of 52 people in the UK had died from new variant CJD.

BBC: Drugs 'slow mad cow disease'

The arrests are part of a wider French inquiry into the deaths of at least four people in France from variant CJD that is passed onto humans by eating beef.

BBC: French restaurant chain in BSE probe

It is alleged that the Buffalo Grill chain continued serving beef from Britain after it was banned in the European Union and that this may have been the cause of cases of the human form of mad cow disease (BSE), known as variant CJD.

BBC: French restaurant chain in BSE probe