§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what his assessment is of the quantitative risk of human beings contracting new variant CJD from consuming(a) lamb and matter from animals more than 12 months old and (b) lambs' brains. [68498]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 9 July 2002]I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that as the risk of BSE in sheep is theoretical, there is no quantitative assessment of the risk of consuming sheepmeat. Current precautionary controls require the removal as specified risk material of the spleen from all animals and the skull (including brain and eyes), spinal cord and tonsils of sheep over one-year-old. A report on BSE and sheep compiled by a group of stakeholders was endorsed by the Board of the FSA on 13 June 2002. The assessments taken into account in this report indicate that animals over one year would represent a higher risk, if BSE were present. Removal of lamb brain from younger animals was
429Wassessed to have a minimal impact on increasing the level of risk reduction compared with the current requirement to remove brains from sheep over one-year-old.