Some 64.5 percent of people surveyed by Kyodo News object to the government's plan to drop blanket testing for mad cow disease, which would give the green light to resuming imports of U.S. beef.

Japan may resume imports of American beef as early as spring.

According to the survey, 72.5 percent of the respondents said they do not want to eat American beef after imports resume, while 23.8 percent said they did.

The respondents were analyzed according to gender and age. A little more than 71 percent of women oppose the end of blanket testing. Among women in their 40s, the figure was 79.6 percent.

Asked whether they want to eat American beef even after imports resume, 85.2 percent of women said they did not. This rate shot up to 93.7 percent among women in their 50s.

As for men, 46.9 percent of those in their 30s look forward to enjoying American beef, the survey found.

The results may indicate that resistance to ending blanket testing is easing. In survey conducted in February, resistance was gauged at 87.1 percent.

The random telephone survey, conducted Thursday and Friday, covered 1,444 people across the country and received responses from 1,009. No margin of error was given.

Under an agreement with the U.S. reached in October, Japan is to consider resuming imports of American beef from animals with birth records of up to 20 months, as early as next spring.

In accordance with this, the Food Safety Commission is set to recommend early next year that the 3-year-old blanket testing regime be modified.