21.   Reports saying the cattle disease might cause the human disease brought a ban on British beef in Europe.

22.   Scientists link the cattle disease with the human version of a brain-wasting ailment, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

23.   Several committee members appeared unconvinced and suggested EU institutions have long ignored evidence indicating a danger to human health from the cattle disease.

24.   South Africa suspended imports of British beef Friday, joined a growing number of countries who fear the meat could spread a fatal cattle disease to humans.

25.   The ban followed an announcement of a possible link between the cattle disease and a fatal human brain ailment.

26.   The ban was imposed two months ago when Britain announced a possible link between a fatal cattle disease and a lethal brain-wasting disease in humans.

27.   That reflected an unusually higher number of deaths from sporadic CJD, an older former of the illness which is not associated with the cattle disease.

28.   The EU beef market plunged into crisis last week amid fears about new evidence linking the cattle disease, found in British herds, with a deadly human illness.

29.   The first case of the brain-wasting cattle disease surfaced last fall.

30.   The Health Ministry said no cases of the deadly cattle disease have been detected in Brazil.