§ The Duke of Montroseasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following their statement on 22 October, whether they have evidence of any other occasions when material from sheep and cattle brains used in research has been wrongly labelled. [HL912]
§ Lord WhittyWe are not at present aware of any other occasions when material from sheep and cattle brains has been wrongly labelled. Once we receive the results of the audits we have commissioned we will 43WA need to decide whether further action is needed to verify the provenance of tissue samples.
§ The Duke of Montroseasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the research conducted on prions in relation to BSE, where the "brainpool" for testing the efficacy of rendering processes was assembled and by whom. [HL1056]
§ Lord WhittyThe brains collected for testing the efficacy of rendering processes were macerated to form a brain pool under the direction of the Institute of Animal Health at a pilot scale rendering plant owned by Prosper de Mulder Ltd. The brains (ovine and bovine) were obtained from veterinary investigation centres.
§ The Duke of Montroseasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the research conducted on prions in relation to BSE, how many samples of the "brainpool" were subject to rendering by Prosper de Mulder or some other company. [HL1057]
§ Lord WhittyMaterial from the scrapie and bovine BSE brain pools was subjected to 12 rendering protocols which were in use in the European Union in 1991 and three which were not. The rendering treatments took place at a pilot scale rendering plant owned by Prosper de Mulder Ltd. Samples were tested using mouse panels to determine whether the rendering treatments had inactivated the infective agent. Details of these experiments, including information on the materials and methods used, can be found in the following scientific papers:
Taylor, D.M, Woodgate, S.L., and Atkinson, M.J. (1995). Inactivation of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent by rendering procedures. Veterinary Record 137, 605–10.
Taylor, D.M, Woodgate, S.L., Fleetwood, A.J and Cawthorne, R.J.G. (1997). Effect of rendering procedures on the scrapie agent. Veterinary Record 141, 643–649.
§ The Duke of Montroseasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether in 1997 the Institute of Animal Health was given "brainpool" samples which had not been rendered as well as those that had; and what labelling those samples had. [HL1058]
§ Lord WhittyRendered and unrendered samples of the brain pool were sent to two laboratories of the Institute for Animal Health. The chain of custody arrangements for these samples is the subject of an ongoing audit, the results of which will be published.
§ The Duke of Montroseasked Her Majesty's Government:
Given that the Veterinarian Laboratories Association did not receive a sample of the material held by the Institute of Animal Health for the "brainpool" tests which they were asked to conduct 44WA in December 2000, where did the Laboratory of the Government Chemist get the sample that it tested to see whether it was ovine or bovine. [HL1059]
§ Lord WhittyThe Institute of Animal Health dispatched the samples to the Laboratory of the Government Chemist for testing.