§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to ban from the food chain meat from the breeds of sheep that are susceptible to scrapie. [78362]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 31 October 2002]: Scrapie is not known to be transmissible to humans. Nonetheless there is a theoretical risk that the occurrence of apparent scrapie cases may be concealing BSE in sheep. The question of appropriate precautionary and advisory action to protect and inform consumers about this risk has been extensively considered and publicised by the Food Standards Agency in recent times.
The European Commission has meanwhile issued proposals for action amongst other things to prevent certain susceptible sheep from entering the food chain. These proposals relate only to those holdings where scrapie has been confirmed as present.