§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many cattle have so far been slaughtered because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and how many outbreaks of this disease have been traced to feed incorporating the offal of sheep suffering from scrapie, or other infected animal protein.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Compulsory slaughter for cattle suspected of having bovine spongiform encephalopathy was introduced on 8th August last year. From then until the end of the year, 1,725 suspected cases were slaughtered. The most likely cause of the disease is the feeding of ruminant based rations, some of which probably included material from scrapie affected sheep. This practice has been banned since 18th July last year.