§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will list the number of cases of scrapie in each year since 1985.
§ Mr. SoamesScrapie was made a notifiable disease on 1 January 1993 to meet the requirements of EC directive 91/68 on animal health conditions governing intra-community trade in sheep and goats.
The following cases of scrapie in Great Britain have been confirmed by laboratory analysis in the period requested (to 31 January 1994):
Sheep Goats 1985 143 N/R 1986 153 N/R 1987 176 N/R 1988 211 N/R 1989 246 6 1990 334 15 11991 896 12 11992 589 6 21993 282 3 21994 22 0 N/R = not recorded. 1 In 1991 and 1992 voluntary reporting of cases of scrapie in sheep was encouraged to obtain material for spongiform encephalopathy research. 2 Further laboratory analysis of suspect cases of scrapie is not usually carried out for two years after the disease has been confirmed in a flock. These figures therefore indicate the number of flocks confirmed to be infected, but give no indication of the number of cases of scrapie in those flocks.