§ 25. Mr. GarnierTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he is next meeting his EU counterparts to discuss BSE. [36429]
§ Mrs. BrowningMy right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will attend the Agriculture Council on 22 and 23 July and expects to discuss BSE during that meeting.
§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what warranties will be provided regarding freedom from BSE of cattle imported to the United Kingdom as herd replacements. [37720]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe existing arrangements for the importation of cattle and other livestock from the European Community and from third countries already provide for a veterinary inspection to certify that the livestock are free from any clinical signs of disease. These arrangements are on-going and apply to animals imported now as herd replacements and imported in the past as herd replacements and will continue to apply for the future. Although BSE is present in a number of other countries the incidence is much lower than in the United Kingdom, and the certification requirements which are recommended by the international animal health code of the Office International des Epizoöties are much less stringent. Purchasers may, however, specify whatever warranty they wish when buying cattle, and should take veterinary advice before doing so.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the number of cattle that contracted BSE as a result of failures of animal feed producers to implement fully BSE-related control regulations in the production, distribution and supply of animal feed since 1989. [31251]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 4 June 1996]: No such estimates are available. It has however been estimated that the introduction of the ruminant feed ban prevented more than 150,000 cases of BSE.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the results to date of the Weybridge study into possible maternal transmission of BSE. [32196]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 10 June 1996]: The work being undertaken at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency will be published in the scientific literature in due 632W course. We have undertaken to make known any significant findings when the interim results of the experiment are evaluated.
§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the 10 most recent dates of birth of cattle confirmed since 1 January as carrying the BSE agent. [32097]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 10 June 1996]: As at 17 July, the 10 most recent dates of birth for BSE cases confirmed since 1 January 1996 are:
- 28 October 1992
- 31 October 1992
- 31 October 1992
- 01 November 1992
- 03 November 1992
- 05 November 1992
- 12 November 1992
- 01 December 1992
- 05 December 1992
- 31 December 1992
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursto ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent(a) antibody and (b) other research carried out at the central veterinary laboratory into the infectivity of BSE in the ileum indicates infectivity of BSE eight months prior to an animal displaying clinical signs of BSE. [32324]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]No PrP antibody test has been established that in BSE can specifically detect the altered protein in the ileum—assuming the protein to be a proxy for infectivity. Further work is planned in this area.
Research at CVL into infectivity of BSE in the ileum has been confined to mouse bioassay of this tissue from cattle experimentally infected by oral dosing using a large dose of affected cow brains. Groups of infected cattle were then killed at sequential four month intervals and their tissues were sampled for bioassay of infectivity. Results of the study are incomplete, but so far infectivity has been detected in ileum of cattle from six months to 18 months after dosing. Those cattle which remained in the study developed clinical signs of BSE at 35 to 37 months after dosing. The results of assays started after 18 months post challenge are not yet available. Thus the studies indicate that, under these specified experimental conditions, infectivity is detectable by bioassay in mice from six months to at least 18 months after dosing.
There is no evidence from the research or otherwise at present that infectivity and/or the altered PrP protein in BSE can be detected eight months prior to the onset of clinical disease.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment has been made of the potential for securing an end to the European ban on beef on the basis of introducing post mortem tests in abattoirs for diagnosing the pre-clinical incidence of BSE in animals using ileum and or brain material; and what is his assessment of the costs and efficacy of such tests. [32309]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]: It is impractical to use brain material for diagnosing pre-clinical BSE as the tests which exist are effective only 633W on clinically affected cattle, or on cattle that are about to develop clinical disease. Immunological tests using the ileum are still being evaluated.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the usefulness of cattle post mortem antibody testing for pre-clinical diagnosis of BSE which provides for results within 15 hours of testing taking place. [32320]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]: Several potential diagnostic tests exist—some rapid, others slow—which are effective only on clinically affected cattle, or on cattle that are about to develop clinical disease within three to four months. Neither the specificity of PrP antibodies nor the sensitivity of the current diagnostic immunological methods allow detection of the accumulated disease specific protein in tissues at earlier stages of incubation.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the advantages of introducing a national screening programme on the basis of amending current diagnostic procedures for BSE detection in abattoirs to include a three-month retrospective pre-clinical assessment of BSE infectivity. [32321]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 17 June 1996]: We see no benefit from doing this. Only three clinical cases of BSE have occurred since the beginning of 1995 in animals young enough to be eligible for human consumption under existing rules. The currently available diagnostic techniques do not identify cattle at the earliest stages of disease although the exact correlation between clinical symptoms, histopathology and infectivity in different tissues will not be established until the completion of the pathogenesis experiment currently under way at CVL, Weybridge.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research he has(a) commissioned, and (b) evaluated concerning the survival of BSE infectivity through the rendering processes as used by Prosper De Mulder. [33141]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 19 June 1996]: Research into the inactivation of the BSE agent was commissioned jointly by MAFF, the EU and the European and UK rendering industry. The results were published in The Veterinary Record on 9 December 1995.