HC Deb 21 May 1996 vol 278 cc172-4W
Mr. Morgan

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) of 24 April,Official Report, column 209, on what date each animal was confirmed to have been suffering from BSE. [29410]

Mrs. Browning

[holding answer 15 May 1996]: The following table gives the dates of birth of the 10 youngest cattle, including estimated ages, and the date at which BSE was confirmed:

Date of birth Date of BSE confirmation
Autumn 1986 31 January 1989
January 1987 24 July 1989
November 1987 28 November 1989
Autumn 1987 11 May 1989
Autumn 1987 22 November 1989
Autumn 1987 26 March 1990
May 1988 26 July 1990
November 1988 26 March 1991
June 1989 20 January 1992
October 1990 20 May 1993

Mr. Morgan

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many, and what percentage, of the maternal transmission test group study by the veterinary laboratory at Weybridge have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE. [29345]

Mrs. Browning

[holding answer 15 May 1996]: Forty-seven or 7 per cent. of the 630 study animals have so far developed BSE.

Mr. Morgan

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what preliminary assessment he has made as to the most likely cause of BSE in those animals in the maternal transmission test group study by the veterinary laboratory at Weybridge that have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE. [29346]

Mr. Browning

[holding answer 15 May 1996]: The detailed cohort study into the possibility of maternal transmission of BSE will not be complete until early 1997. Some information about this experiment has been published in the progress report on BSE laid in the Library of the House in November 1995, but the result cannot be interpreted until it is complete. As the study is being carried out blind we do not know whether the 47 animals which have succumbed to BSE in the trial are offspring of BSE cases or whether they are control animals. The details of these animals are given in the table.

Distribution of confirmed cases in the offspring study by month of birth and period at 1 May 1996
Period
Month and year of birth July-December 1991 January-June 1992 July-December 1992 January-June 1993 July-December 1993 January-June 1994 July-December 1994 January-June 1995 July-December 1995 Total
1987
September 1 — — — — — — — — 1
October — — 1 — — — 1 — — 2
November 1 — — — — — — — — 1
December — 1 3 — 1 — — — — 5
1988
January — — — — — — — — — 0
February — — 1 — — — 1 — — 2
March — — — — — — — 1 — 1
April — — — — — — — — — 0
May — — 1 — — — — — — 1
June — — — — — — — — 1 1
July — — — — — — — 1 — 1
August — — — — 3 3 1 3 1 11
September — — 1 2 1 1 1 — — 6
October — 1 — 1 1 2 — — 1 6
November — — — — — 2 — — — 2
December — — 1 1 — 1 — 1 — 4
1989
January — — — — — — — 1 — 1
February — — — — — — — — — 0
March — — — — — — 1 — — 1
April — — — — — 1 — — — 1
Grand total 2 2 8 4 6 10 5 7 3 47

Mr. Hinchliffe

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the means of disposal for the remains of cattle aged 30 months or over following processing of carcasses at rendering plants as part of the scheme to eradicate bovine spongiform encephalopathy from British herds. [29654]

Mrs. Browning

[holding answer 16 May 1996]: My right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced in the House on 16 April, Official Report, col. 513 that, following the process of rendering, the resultant material would be disposed of by the best practicable environmental option. The Government are actively pursuing the ways and means of achieving this objective and a further statement will be made when conclusions have been reached.

Dr. Strang

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle were slaughtered in the United Kingdom under the 30-month scheme in the week beginning Monday 29 April. [28919]

Mr. Baldry

[holding answer 20 May 1996]: One hundred cattle were slaughtered in the United Kingdom under the scheme in the week beginning 29 April.

In all cases the farms of origin for the animals in this study have had cases of BSE, notably in the experimental animals dams, which indicates that some exposure to contaminated feed did occur on the farms. To take account of this a control animal was purchased from the same farm as the offspring of a confirmed case.

Until the experiment is completed and the results unblinded and analysed, it will not be possible to say whether maternal transmission of BSE can account for any of the cases, or whether all should be attributed to contaminated feed.