RUSSIAN awareness of Ireland's BSE problem is growing daily. It received a further boost from an interview with the head of the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary service in the latest edition of the Argumenty I Fakty newspaper which, with a circulation of more than 23 million, has the largest readership in the world.
The paper gave a prominent display to the interview with Mr Vyacheslav Avilov, who was anxious to defend imports of Irish beef against a public which would welcome a total ban.
Under the headline "Crazy Irish Cows", Mr Avilov explained that 10 per cent of meat on sale in the Moscow market came from Ireland and that Irish regulations on BSE were among the strictest in the world, with entire herds slaughtered if a single cow with BSE was discovered.
It is doubtful, however, that the article will allay the fears of consumers in Moscow. Virtually every Russian this correspondent has met, on learning that I was from Ireland, responded with a remark about "mad cow disease". Among the western expatriates here, I have been asked how it was possible to ensure that beef they bought in supermarkets did not come from Ireland.
The Finnish supermarket group, Stockmanns, whose Moscow outlet is patronised by the foreign community, has begun to label its beef by country of origin after requests by customers. No Irish beef was available there yesterday.
Mr Eoin Ryan, of the Tipperary FM radio station, delivered a series of letters from politicians, businesses and fanning organisations in the county to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture asking for a reconsideration of the temporary ban on imports.
Mr Ryan told The Irish Times that a representative of An Bord Bia in Dublin rang his radio station on Wednesday to inform him that the organisation would not co operate in his attempt to deliver the letters, having told earlier that he would receive assistance. The package of letters would not have reached the ministry, he said, without the co operation of The Irish Times in Moscow.
