Mr. Andy StewartTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the experimental host range of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
§ Mr. MacleanIt has been known for some time that, under experimental conditions, BSE can be transmitted to a range of species—mice, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. In most cases, this has been accomplished only by direct inoculation of large doses of infectious material from cows affected with BSE, although mice have also succumbed after being fed with large quantities of infected cattle brain material.
As part of this programme of work designed to clarify the range of species susceptible to BSE, an experiment conducted by the Medical Research Council and MAFF has resulted in BSE being transmitted to a marmoset, following inoculation of cattle brain material derived from a BSE affected cow into its brain and body cavity.
Although it was already known that marmosets were susceptible, under similar artificial laboratory conditions, to other spongiform encephalopathies, the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, chaired by Dr. David Tyrrell, was immediately asked to advise on the implications of this experiment. The committee concluded that the results of the experiment were not surprising and had no implications for the safeguards already in place for human and animal health. I am arranging for a copy of this advice to be placed in the Library of the House.