§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the number and incidence by year and county of confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases known to have been born to bovine spongiform encephalopathy infected dams.
§ Mr. MacleanThere have been 27 such cases, of which 26 were born before the ban on the feeding of ruminant protein to ruminant animals in July 1988. The breakdown is as follows:166W
County Year in which BSE in offspring confirmed Number Avon 1990 2 Berkshire 1991 1 Cheshire 1991 1 Cornwall 1988 1 Cornwall 1990 2 Cornwall 1991 1 Devon 1989 1 Devon 1991 3 Dorset 1990 2 Dyfed 1991 1 Gloucestershire 1991 1 Hampshire 1989 1 Leicestershire 1990 2 Norfolk 1990 1 Oxfordshire 1990 1 Somerset 1989 1 Staffordshire 1990 1 Sussex West 1991 1 Wiltshire 1989 1 Wiltshire 1991 2
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing the incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in each county of England and Wales for the four-week periods ended 17 March and 17 April, respectively.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information for England and Wales is as follows:
167W
County Confirmed cases four-week period ending 17 March 1991 Confirmed cases four-week period ending 17 April 1991 Avon 36 18 Bedfordshire 3 1 Berkshire 5 9 Buckinghamshire 12 5 Cambridgeshire 5 1 Cheshire 49 53 Cleveland 0 1 Clwyd 22 11 Cornwall 91 61 Cumbria 24 16 Derbyshire 23 21 Devon 123 131 Dorset 91 99 Durham 3 3 Dyfed 72 66 Essex 5 0 Mid Glamorgan 2 2 South Glamorgan 5 1 West Glamorgan 0 2 Gloucestershire 50 37 Gwent 5 8 Gwynedd 3 2 Hampshire 44 16 Hereford and Worcester 9 29 Hertfordshire 5 5 Humberside 6 3 Isle of Wight 9 10 Kent 28 12 Lancashire 23 47 Leicestershire 35 25 Lincolnshire 13 11 London 1 0 Manchester 4 5 Norfolk 25 10 Northamptonshire 4 9 Northumberland 3 7 Nottinghamshire 11 5 Oxfordshire 14 15 Powys 14 8 Shropshire 20 41
County Confirmed cases four-week period ending 17 March 1991 Confirmed cases four-week period ending 17 April 1991 Somerset 117 147 Staffordshire 21 21 Suffolk 25 13 Surrey 12 2 East Sussex 21 13 West Sussex 33 27 Tyne and Wear 1 0 West Midlands 0 1 Warwickshire 8 7 Wiltshire 81 78 North Yorkshire 58 44 South Yorkshire 4 1 West Yorkshire 2 6 TOTAL 1,280 1,166
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the location of the live progeny of bovine spongiform encephalopathy cows.
§ Mr. MacleanInformation on offspring is recorded as part of the epidemiological inquiry. In addition, since 15 October 1990, farmers have been required to maintain breeding records for cattle; and to keep both these and movement records for 10 years. The offspring of confirmed cases can therefore be traced if necessary.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the current number of live cattle which are the offspring of cows confirmed as suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
§ Mr. MacleanUp to 12 April 1991, the number of offspring recorded as live at the time that epidemiological inquiries were made into each case is 20,694. A number of these will have subsequently been slaughtered or died.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what research he has undertaken to ascertain whether confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases born to confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy dams had suffered vertical transmission of the disease;
(2) if he has any proposals to restrict the use for breeding purposes of cattle which are themselves the progeny of bovine spongiform encephalopathy cows;
(3) if he will publish the latest information he has concerning the possible vertical transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
§ Mr. MacleanI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross) on 27 March 1991 at columns471–74.