§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the reliability of the research carried out by Dr. Harash Narang into tests on live animals and humans to detect BSE and CJD. [24907]
§ Mr. HoramDr. Narang has proposed a number of tests to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The first of these concerned a technique for examining the brain tissue of dead animals but in trials this proved to be no more successful in identifying cases of BSE than other better-established techniques.
Dr. Narang has also stated that he has developed urine tests for identifying BSE and CJD in live animals and humans. Such test, if effective, would be of great value and Dr. Narang has been invited to supply details of them so they can be independently evaluated. However, he has so far declined to do this although this question is still being explored with him.