21.   For one thing, while European consumers once were more focused on quality than Americans, slow economic growth and mounting unemployment are making them more sensitive to costs.

22.   For years now, European consumers have been so frugal that they constituted a drag on overall economic growth.

23.   It could be easier to stop the farmers of southern Albania producing drugs if there were some other crop they were allowed to supply to European consumers.

24.   John F. Lundgren is president of European consumer products, and William Schultz is president of Dixie cup and plate operations.

25.   Largely because of high taxes, European consumers typically pay more than twice what Americans do to fill up their cars.

26.   On the other hand, those working in manufacturing and service businesses could suffer from reduced access to European consumers and investment.

27.   Senior administration officials publicly disparaged the concerns of European consumers as the products of conservative minds unfamiliar with the science.

28.   Still, Europe insists that the ban remain because of concerns by European consumers that some forms of hormones in beef are harmful.

29.   Still, the big question remains whether European consumers will forsake a proven gasoline scooter for an electric vehicle.

30.   That measure alone, European officials acknowledged, would not go anywhere towards reassuring European consumers that it is safe to eat beef.