§ Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make a statement about bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
§ Mr. SoamesA further progress report on BSE in Great Britain for the period up to 29 October is available today. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library of the House. The report details increasingly firm evidence that the ruminant feed ban is effective in controlling the epidemic in the way which has been predicted. The number of suspect cases of BSE reported in the last three months is 12.7 per cent. below that for the same period last year, 10,270 cases in 1993 compared with 11,759 cases in 1992. There is also a dramatic reduction in the number of cases occurring in younger animals.