The Ministry of Agriculture has banned the slaughter of all cows over 30 months of age, following the discovery of a cow with Mad Cow disease. Tissues from the cow, which was raised on a Golan Heights dairy farm, were sent to Switzerland for final testing, but until the results are received two days from now, only cows under 30 months will be slaughtered - as the disease only afflicts cows older than that. The disease is in fact fatal, having claimed 80 British lives, and is also expensive; some 200,000 cows have been infected over the past decade in Europe, and hundreds of thousands of animals were put to death as a result in France, Spain, Ireland, and elsewhere. The Agriculture Ministry emphasizes that there is currently no danger involved in eating fresh meat, and that the disease is not transmitted via the animal\'s milk or in any way other than eating its meat.
The Agriculture Ministry\'s Veterinarian Services Director, Dr. Oded Nir, says that Israel was among the first countries in the world to take preventative measures against the spread of the disease, and that therefore a massive outbreak of the phenomenon is unlikely.