§ Sir Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 4 December,Official Report, columns 720–21, if he will list the unqualified evidence linking BSE and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease assessed by his Department (a) before and (b) since 25 March; and if he will make a statement. [8341]
§ Mr. HoramThere is no unqualified evidence linking bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee's advice has been drawn up on the basis of the balance of probabilities considering all the various evidence available. Its view is that a connection between exposure to BSE and new variant CJD is likely but not conclusively established.