§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what reports he has received from experiments undertaken on mice as to the cross-species movement of BSE and the possible barrier to the harming of human beings by infected poisons from animals; and if he will make a statement. [8695]
§ Mr. HoramWe are aware of the research currently being conducted by Professor John Collinge to investigate whether bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, can be transmitted to mice which have been genetically engineered to carry the human prion protein. Recently published interim results show that, after inoculation with BSE infected material, such mice have failed to develop spongiform encephalopathy within the time taken by 337W similar mice following inoculation with Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease infected material. While this is encouraging, considerable further research is need before any firm conclusions can be drawn about the theoretical risk of BSE transmission to humans.