§ 12. Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of cases of BSE confirmed in the United Kingdom at the latest available date. [4139]
§ Mr. Douglas HoggAs at last Friday, 155,832 cases of BSE had been confirmed in the United Kingdom. I regularly meet industry representatives to discuss BSE.
§ Mr. PrenticeThose are disconcerting figures. How can the Government conceivably hope to reassure the public when they are ordering redundancies at the Institute of Animal Health in Edinburgh, where scientists are working at the leading edge on BSE and its human equivalent? They have been told that they have until next Thursday to come up with redundancies in order to meet the Government's target. The Minister has an opportunity now to repudiate that policy and say that it will be reversed. It is appalling.
§ Mr. HoggThere are two points wrapped up in that question. The first relates to the statistics. The number of confirmed cases is declining. This time last year there were about 28,500 confirmed cases; this month there are about 16,500. In other words, we are seeing a decline of about 40 per cent. That is certainly encouraging.
On the substantive point, there are no financial restrictions on research. On the contrary, we have put another £1 million into research for next year. I asked Professor Pattison, the chairman of the independent advisory committee, whether he saw any financial restrictions on research and he said no.
§ Mr. FrenchIn tackling the problem of BSE, does my right hon. and learned Friend accept that it is one thing to pass regulations on the content of feedstuffs and slaughterhouse procedures but a different thing to ensure 100 per cent. enforcement of those measures? What recent steps has my right hon. and learned Friend taken to increase enforcement?
§ Mr. HoggIt is important to stand back on the question of BSE. There are two important points to make: first, we do not believe that BSE in cattle can be transmitted to humans. The scientific evidence is reassuring on that point, although it does not enable us yet to prove that it cannot be transmitted. Against the possibility that we might be wrong, we have in place very rigorous regulations to prevent specified bovine offal—the material capable of carrying the infective agent—from getting into the food chain. I have given clear instructions to the Meat Hygiene Service to ensure 100 per cent. compliance with the regulations. I called in the slaughterhouse operators on 9 November to give them the same message.
§ Dr. StrangIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that we welcome the tightening of BSE controls announced today? Does he agree that it was unacceptable that the existing controls were not adequately enforced, for which the Government must accept their share of responsibility? Does he agree that we should err on the side of caution when it comes to BSE? Will the Minister announce today that he accepts the recommendation of 1095 the Agriculture Select Committee that we should ban the brains, spinal cords and other specified offal of cattle under six months from entering human food?
§ Mr. HoggOn matters of scientific evidence, I follow the advice of the independent advisory committee. We have done so throughout, which enables us to say with complete confidence that British beef is safe. On the first part of the hon. Gentleman's question, he is doing himself no credit. There are no party runs to be scored on the matter. If he tries to score them, he will simply make a clown of himself.