Russian health regulators have imposed new barriers to the import of meat from the United States, in what may be retaliation for American legislation punishing Russian officials linked to human rights violations.
The new Russian regulation requires imported meat to undergo testing for and be certified free of ractopamine, which is added to animal feed in the United States to make meat more lean. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers ractopamine safe and does not test for it.
The United States exports about $500 million worth of beef and pork to Russia, and the USDA has asked Russia to suspend the requirement, saying it could effectively halt beef and pork exports to Russia. American trade and economic officials will reportedly travel to Moscow to urge the government to postpone the new requirement.
A notice published on the regulators Web site Dec. 7 said tbat the new regulation would go into force immediately, but that during an unspecified "transition period" Russia will conduct its own testing. After the transition period ends, foreign countries will be required to certify their meat exports as ractopamine-free.
The announcement came hours after the US Senate passed the so-called Magnitsky Act, which will deny visas and freeze assets of Russian officials who have been linked to the death of Sergei L. Magnitsky, who was detained after accusing Russian officials of embezzlement and died in a Moscow detention center in November
2009.
Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, denied that ban was politically motivated or linked to the Magnitsky Act, saying that there are serious questions about the effects of ractopamine. "For instance, use of ractopamine is accompanied by a reduction in body mass, suppression of reproductive function,
increase of mastitis in dairy herds, which leads to a steep decline in the quality and safety of milk," he told Interfax Dec. 8.
