ITALIAN FARM UNION DEMONSTRATORS AND POLICE INSPECT FRENCH LORRY AT THE FRENCO-ITALIAN BORDER, 2000-11-20 (photo)

Italian police watch as Italian farm union members inspect the contents of a French lorry during a demonstration in Vintimiglia on the boarder with France November 20, 2000. Italian police inspect lorries from France entering the country following a recent ban on the import of adult cattle and beef-on-the-bone from France due to consumer panic over mad cow disease and its link to a fatal, brain-wasting disease in humans. According to the Rome-based farm research institute ISMEA, Italy imports about 1.5 million head of cattle a year, of which two-thirds come from France. EG/JES/