Botulism (Hansard, 16 February 1987)

§ Mr. Hickmet

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make botulism a notifiable disease when contracted (a) by horses or (b) by other livestock; and if he will make a statement;

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(2) if he will seek to obtain the articles about botulism in horses and other livestock by the veterinary surgeon Mr. Ricketts of Newmarket and published in recent months in the Veterinary Recorder and elsewhere; and if he will make a statement.

(3) if he has any information as to why Westway and Sons has withdrawn 4,000 bales of Horse Hage and offered to buy back Horse Hage supplied to horse owners; and if he will reconsider his decision not to advise the feed merchant and horseowners about this matter;

(4) what representations he has received concerning the supply in Devon and Cornwall of Horse Hage fodder by Westway and Sons; what information he has received that such fodder is or may be a cause of botulism in horses; what action he has taken as a result; and if he will make a statement;

(5) further to his reply of Thursday 12 February 1987, what information he has as to how much time both horses which were destroyed spent stabled at Widecombe-in-the-Moor;

(6) if, in the light of information supplied to him by the hon. Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe, he has anything to add to his answer of 12 February on another horse alleged to have eaten the same fodder as the horses which died;

(7) further to his reply of 12 February 1987, whether any horses have died as a result of contracting botulism which have not been recorded by his Department's laboratories;

(8) what has been the incidence of botulism amongst livestock since the introduction of big bale silage; what is the difference between the big bale silage and Horse Hage; and if he will make a statement;

(9) if his Department's veterinary investigation service will make investigations into whether the cause of death on 1 December 1986 of the horse Gamble, stabled at Ponsworthy in Devon, was botulism.