§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which animal species are currently, or have been, involved in experiments in the transmission of spongiform encephalopathy; and what have been the results to date.
§ Mr. MacleanI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Taylor) on 16 May,Official Report, column 464.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will cull all calves born of animals infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 17 May 1990]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Mitchell) on 17 May 1990, Official Report, column 1009.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been notified in cattle under two years of age; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerBSE has been confirmed in one animal under two years of age; a cow aged 22 months.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the transmissibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy between mammals by biting or oral contact or any other non-experimental method, apart from ingestion.
§ Mr. MacleanThere is no evidence of any natural means of transmission of BSE other than ingestion.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been reported to him to date in cattle first identified as bovine spongiform encephalopathy-suspect by veterinary inspection at(a) fatstock markets and (b) slaughterhouses.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information up to 31 March 1990 is as follows:
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Numbers (a) Markets Suspects reported 133 Cases confirmed 92 (b) Slaughterhouses Suspects reported 203 Cases confirmed 149
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the(a) total cost and (b) cost per suspect head of testing cattle suspected as suffering from BSE.
§ Mr. MacleanThe full economic cost of conducting a histopathological examination on a brain for BSE diagnosis is £166. Since 21 June 1988, when BSE became notifiable, the veterinary investigation service has examined 14,253 brains at a total cost of £2,365,998.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many tests of cattle heads were conducted for BSE in the first four months of the current year; and how many were confirmed.
§ Mr. MacleanIn the first four months of this year 4,215 cattle were slaughtered as BSE suspects. Of those, BSE has been confirmed in 3,596. Results are pending on 186.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 16 May, what information he has concerning the number and distribution of calves born to cows subsequently confirmed as BSE sufferers.
§ Mr. MacleanI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 23 April,Official Report, column 80.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, whether it is his Department's practice to confirm by laboratory tests all notified cases of BSE.
§ Mr. MacleanAll cattle slaughtered as suspected cases of BSE are subject to diagnostic laboratory tests.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing the distribution of the total number of confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, by county, in the United Kingdom in the four weeks to 17 May.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information for Great Britain is as follows:
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County Number Avon 27 Bedfordshire 4 Berkshire 3 Borders 1 Buckinghamshire 11 Cambridgeshire 5 Central 3 Cheshire 32 Cleveland 1 Clwyd 11 Cornwall 72 Cumbria 16 Derbyshire 11 Devonshire 94
County Number Dorset 80 Dumfries 6 Durham 11 Dyfed 76 Essex 7 Fife 3 Glamorgan M 6 Glamorgan W 1 Gloucestershire 45 Grampian 7 Gwent 11 Gwynedd 3 Hampshire 50 Hereford and Worcestershire 23 Hertfordshire 5 Highland 5 Humberside 4 Isle of Wight 5 Kent 25 Lancashire 38 Leicestershire 27 Lincolnshire 10 Manchester 1 Norfolk 15 Northamptonshire 8 Northumberland 4 Nottinghamshire 8 Oxfordshire 20 Powys 13 Salop 28 Somerset 95 Staffordshire 28 Strathclyde 13 Suffolk 13 Surrey 18 Sussex E 21 Sussex W 22 Tayside 2 Warwickshire 10 Wiltshire 39 Yorkshire N 45 Yorkshire S 5 Yorkshire W 1 Total 1,148
§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether any cattle infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been buried in Lincolnshire.
§ Mr. MacleanYes; such carcases are buried on licensed tips owned by, and with the agreement of, the county council.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in the development of diagnostic testing for the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanThe nature of the BSE agent requires the application of molecular biology techniques for the development of a diagnostic test. Research is in hand, but cannot be expected to yield results for several years at least.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at what stage in the development of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the sub-clinically affected animal it is possible to identify bovine spongiform encephalopathy by histopathological examination.
§ Mr. MacleanResearch to establish this is being planned, but results will not be available for several years.
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§ Mr. John GarrettTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps his staff have taken to ensure that the heads and spinal columns of BSE-infected animals dumped at Attebridge, Norfolk, have been incinerated and that there is no evidence of the BSE virus leading into the River Wensum.
§ Mr. MacleanHeads of suspect BSE cattle are removed for diagnosis and then destroyed by incineration. All carcases are buried in accordance with sound veterinary practices to ensure that none poses a risk of spreading disease.