§ 23. Sir A. Hurdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, as representing the Minister for Science, 148W what success has attended the programme of research on scrapie at the Agricultural Research Council's field station in Berkshire; and whether this work is to be extended with the financial support now offered by the United States Department of Agriculture.
§ Mr. GodberThe work on scrapie at the Agricultural Research Council's Field Station in Berkshire and at the Animal Diseases Research Institute at Moredun, Edinburgh, has yielded valuable information on the nature of the infective agent, which is in many ways unique, on Che susceptibility of different breeds, and on the mode of transmission. The work is inevitably slow because of the long incubation period which ranges from six months to several years. There has been no offer of financial support from the United States Department of Agriculture. A suggestion by that Department that application for support should be made under U.S. Public Law 480 is being considered, and the conditions under which such a grant could be made are being ascertained.