HC Deb 04 June 1996 vol 278 cc435-6W
Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the effects of the routine use of antibiotics in farm animal feed; and if he will make a statement. [30725]

Mrs. Browning

The use of additives in animal feedingstuffs is subject to directive 70/524/EEC, as amended. No feed additive is permitted unless, at the level permitted in feedingstuffs, it does not adversely affect human or animal health or the environment. The EC Commission is advised on these matters by the independent Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition—SCAN—and each approval is subject to agreement by the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs.

In the UK, the possible development of antibiotic resistance in humans and animals from the use of antibiotics in animals is kept under review by the independent, scientific Veterinary Products Committee. The VPC has consistently followed the principles established in 1969 by the report of the joint committee on the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine—the Swann report. The VPC's policy has been that new antimicrobials should not necessarily be precluded from therapeutic use in animals but that their prophylactic use should be discouraged.

Against this background, the committee continues to consider each case on its merits. The committee reviewed its policy last year and confirmed that it did not require amendment. In doing so, it recognised that many antibiotics are effective against both human and animal disease and a number licensed in human medicine are also authorised for therapeutic use in animals. Their use in human medicine, however, far outweighs any animal use.

Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the animal feed products into which his Department has conducted research in respect of the spread of BSE; what measures have been undertaken as a result of this research; and what measures he has undertaken to monitor their effectiveness. [29578]

Mrs. Browning

[holding answer 21 May 1996]: Epidemiological investigations identified meat and bone meal of ruminant origin as the vehicle of transmission of BSE. Evidence from transmission experiments suggests that meal derived from central nervous tissue presented the greatest risk, although other tissues defined as specified bovine material—SBM—could not be excluded. Experiments recently published tested the effectiveness of the rendering processes within the EU in inactivating the BSE agent. These showed that some rendering systems in use in the 1980s did not inactivate the BSE agent fully.

As a result of our understanding of BSE, largely resulting from various research programmes, a number of control measures were introduced: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1988 prohibited the feeding of ruminant protein to ruminant animals on 18 July 1988. The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No2) Order 1990 extended the ban on the use of specified bovine offals to any animal feed. The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1991 consolidated existing BSE legislation and introduced new provisions to prevent the use of meat and bone meal produced from SBOs as a fertiliser. In June 1994 a procedure of on farm sampling of animal feed from premises visited as a result of reported BSE suspect cases was introduced. The Spongiform Miscellaneous Encephalopathy (Amendments) Order 1994 extended the ruminant protein feed ban to include all mammalian protein in ruminant feedingstuffs. Validation of all rendering plants handling animal waste by the end of 1994, in accordance with Commission decision 94/382 on the approval of alternative heat treatment systems for processing animal waste of ruminant origin. The requirements of the decision were included in the Specified Bovine Offal Order 1995. The Specified Bovine Offal Order 1995 strengthened the controls in rendering plants handling SBOs by requiring them to operate dedicated rendering lines for the processing of SBO. The random sampling of animal feed in feed mills commenced in February 1996 in accordance with Commission Decision 95/287. The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Amendment) Order 1996 extended the mammalian protein feed ban to the feeding of mammalian protein to all farm animals, including horses and farmed fish. The Fertilisers (Mammalian Meat and Bone Meal) Regulations 1996 prohibit the use of meat and bonemeal as, or in, fertiliser used on agricultural land. It is only permitted for use in private gardens, and within greenhouses and glass or plastic structures.

An enzyme linked immunoassay—ELISA—test has been developed to identify the presence of mammalian protein in animal feed. This has been used to monitor compliance with the ruminant feed ban.