China closes to Irish beef, but when can ban be lifted?

News Snapshot:

Mention Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and what immediately comes to mind are images of disoriented cows jerking involuntarily and falling clumsily. Readers of a certain age will recall the BSE outbreak in Ireland in 1989 when 15 cases were detected. There was a larger outbreak at the same time in the UK. Those outbreaks of "classic" BSE 34 years ago were attributed to the feeding of meat and bonemeal to cattle. They were strongly linked to cases in humans of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a fatal disease with symptoms broadly similar to BSE in cattle. Most vCJD case were linked...