§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate losses to farmers and dealers in the United Kingdom as a result of bans on imports by European Community governments in the light of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryAt any time there are many factors affecting markets and no meaningful estimate can be made of the specific impact of the prohibitions on trade recently applied by several member states. In the wake of increased support to the market under the CAP regime for beef and the agreement reached last week in the Agriculture Council, I am pleased to note that market prices have improved significantly.
§ Mr. SpellerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will support a unified European Community research programme to study the causes and treatments of BSE.
§ Mr. MacleanYes. The Council of Ministers agreed on 7 June to ask the European Commission to implement a Community-wide programme of research into BSE.
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§ David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the(a) number and (b) percentage of beef herds affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy on a county-by-county basis.
§ Mr. MacleanBovine spongiform encephalopathy is not a disease affecting cattle herds but rather one which affects individual animals within a herd.
The information requested for Great Britain up to 11 June 1990 is as follows:
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County Confirmed cases Per cent, of total beef herds in county Scilly Isles 0 0.00 Cleveland 0 0.00 Durham 9 0.96 Tyne and Wear 0 0.00 Northumberland 12 1.06 Cumbria 15 0.56 Yorkshire North 22 0.97 Yorkshire South 1 0.31 Yorkshire West 2 0.24 Humberside 12 2.42 Lancashire 6 0.63 Merseyside 0 0.00 Manchester 0 0.00 Derbyshire 5 0.49 Leicestershire 5 0.78 Nottinghamshire 3 0.97 Cheshire 0 0.00 Shropshire 7 0.52 Staffordshire 7 0.67 Herefordshire and Worcestershire 23 1.41 Warwickshire 5 1.00 West Midlands 1 0.97 Lincolnshire 5 0.65 Norfolk 18 2.65 Suffolk 9 2.37 Bedfordshire 3 2.17 Cambridgeshire 6 2.12 Northamptonshire 5 1.44 Essex 5 1.66 Hertfordshire 6 3.16 London 1 2.08 Berkshire 3 1.67 Buckinghamshire 2 0.51 Oxfordshire 6 1.45 Hampshire 12 2.32 Isle of Wight 1 0.93 Surrey 9 3.14 Sussex West 9 3.07 Kent 11 1.96 Sussex East 10 2.22 Gloucestershire 7 0.97 Avon 8 2.00 Wiltshire 20 3.78 Dorset 12 2.02 Somerset 27 2.01 Devonshire 37 1.10 Cornwall 42 2.01 Gwynedd 7 0.37 Clwyd 8 0.68 Powys 63 2.08 Dyfed 25 0.72 Glamorgan South 1 0.81 Glamorgan Mid 1 0.25 Glamorgan West 1 0.30 Gwent 11 1.54 Highland 13 0.73 Grampian 35 1.85 Tayside 16 2.04 Strathclyde 10 0.47 Central 4 1.14 Fife 6 2.76 Lothian 2 0.92 Borders 6 0.87
County Confirmed cases Per cent, of total beef herds in county Dumfries 13 0.93 Western Isles 0 0.00 Orkney 4 0.48 Shetland 0 0.00