Eat away, your beef is safe... or so we hope.

In the NY Times an article stated how Japan recently lifted part of a ban imposed on the import of U.S beef. This two year ban was enforced in December of 2003 after a dairy cow in Washington state was found to have mad-cow disease.

"Japan's decision, which also includes Canadian beef, only allows the resumption of imports of beef from cattle less than 21 months old. Those animals are seen as too young to catch the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which can be fatal to humans."

The Japanese decision is believed to be quite signigicant since not only it reopened what was once a great overseas market, but also since Japan is an important ally to the United States in the "war on terror." The U.S needed to regain Japanese trust involving a major import to their country. It was quite a persistent and long struggle convincing Japanese that Americans were not offering them a nice, delicious dish of mad-cow disease, however, they were soon somewhat persuaded even through a lot of hesitation.

In American history there have been many cases of blockades and bans on trade. During the Napoleonic Wars throughout Europe, for example, both Britain and France banned the import of American goods, which was a big blow to the relatively new nation's economy. Not only did the countries ban imports, they would in addition seize American ships and impress the men. Through negotiation with President Jefferson (the best president ever!!!), France under Napoleon soon lifted its blockade on American imports, though people continued on seizing ships. Even though Britain and France did not enforce blockades because of the risk of diseases spreading, they still banned American imports, as Japan banned the import of American beef.