§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make samples from carcases in beef intervention stock held in the United Kingdom available to researchers investigating BSE. [24419]
§ Mrs. BrowningCommunity rules currently require that beef purchased into intervention must be derived from steers aged less than 30 months at slaughter, or 24 months in the case of bull beef. Beef stored in intervention is subject to regular and comprehensive controls, including analyses, to ensure that it remains safe to eat.
No BSE infectivity has ever been detected in the muscle of cattle. Moreover, all specified bovine materials must be removed from all cattle at slaughter and destroyed, this includes from those animals going for intervention. It is, therefore, not clear what use researchers investigating BSE would derive from working on samples of intervention beef.
§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish all the scientific evidence he has evaluated since 1992 on bovine spongiform encephalopathy. [24525]
§ Mrs. BrowningIt is not possible for the Government to re-publish all the hundreds of scientific reports worldwide on BSE which are considered by experts and the members of the independent Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, SEAC, many of which are published by scientific journals which hold the copyright. In other cases, interim results have been reported to the committee on a confidential basis by the scientists involved and it would be wrong for the Government to pre-empt the rights of those scientists to publish their results in the scientific literature in the normal way. In 1995 SEAC published a major report summarising present knowledge and research on BSE and similar diseases. A copy is available in the Library of the House (ISBN 0 11 242 9874).
A list of recent projects financed by the Government is given at appendix B of the "Programme to eradicate BSE in the United Kingdom" produced in May 1996 which is also available in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the number of(a) head boning firms, (b) food processing companies, (c) abattoirs and (d) other 307W companies or organisations connected with the beef trade that have ceased trading as a result of the BSE crisis. [31106]
§ Mrs. BrowningPrecise figures are not available. However we estimate that 30 head boning plants, 200 retail butchers, two livestock markets, and a total of 15 wholesalers, meat processors and exporters, may have ceased trading since 20 March. There are no figures available for food processing companies. We believe that only one abattoir has ceased trading as a direct result of the crisis.
§ Mr. William PowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle(a) assessed to be incubating and (b) suspected to be incubating BSE have been imported into the United Kingdom from each EU member state in each year since 1990. [36677]
§ Mrs. BrowningNo cattle imported into Great Britain have at the time of import been suspected of having BSE. However one animal which was reported to the Ministry as a BSE suspect in June 1994 and subsequently confirmed as a BSE case had been imported from France in April 1993. BSE has been confirmed in nine other imported cattle, originating from five member states. All had been resident in Britain for long enough to have become infected after arrival, and therefore no inquiries have been made in the exporting countries.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minsiter of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle, born after the ban on ruminant remains in cattle food, have been confirmed as BSE cases in each of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England; what action his Department has systematically undertaken to determine the cause of such cases of BSE; and how many prosecutions or formal warnings have arisen from such cases. [31577]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 10 June 1996]: The number of confirmed number of BSE cases born after the ruminant feed ban as at 10 July 1996 is:
Number England 24,944 Scotland 1,093 Wales 2,163 Northern Ireland 168 Detailed investigations of a significant proportion of all born after the ban cases—BABS—have been undertaken. In particular details on consumption of feed, particularly in the first year of life, risk of carryover on the farm of feed produced before the ban and the type and source of feed have been obtained. No farmers have been prosecuted for failure to comply with the feed ban because the incubation period of the disease makes it impossible to travel back to a particular feed source.
§ Mr. DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the date of birth by month and year of the 10 youngest cattle confirmed as BSE cases during 1996 in each of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. [31578]
308W
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 10 June 1996]: The date of birth by month and year of the 10 youngest cattle in each of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England for 1996 is:
Scotland Wales England Northern Ireland March 1991 November 1991 July 1992 February 1991 May 1991 February 1991 July 1992 August 1991 June 1991 February 1992 July 1992 September 1991 July 1991 March 1992 August 1992 September 1991 October 1991 March 1992 September 1992 October 1991 December 1991 April 1992 October 1992 October 1991 January 1992 June 1992 November 1992 December 1992 April 1992 June 1992 December 1992 January 1992 August 1992 September 1992 December 1992 January 1992 October 1992 September 1992 December 1992 January 1992
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the confirmed percentage of the incidence of BSE in cattle for each year since 1989. [32268]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]: The percentage of confirmed BSE cases in adult animals, as recorded on agricultural census data, since 1989 by year of clinical onset is:
Year of onset Percent of adult animals affected 1989 0.20 1990 0.37 1991 0.66 1992 0.97 1993 0.88 1994 0.56 1995 0.33
§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what criteria he proposes to use to establish whether a herd is BSE-free for the purposes of the exemptions from the 30-month cattle disposal scheme; and if he will make a statement. [33180]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]: Proposals for a beef assurance scheme for those herds which are considered a low risk to contracting BSE were issued for consultation on 3 May. The consultation demonstrated broad support for the introduction of such a scheme. The detailed rules are now being developed in conjunction with the advice of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. I hope to announce full details of the scheme shortly.