§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what surveys have been undertaken, or are to be performed, to identify the incidence of BSE brain disease among cattle overtly healthy at slaughter. [826]
§ Mrs. BrowningNo survey has been carried out to identify the incidence of BSE among overtly healthy cattle at slaughter. Recognisable changes in the central nervous tissue of BSE—infected animals only occur close to the onset of clinical disease, and this would severely limit the efficiency of such a survey using current diagnostic tests, particularly as the majority of cattle killed for human consumption historically, and all so killed currently, are under 30 months of age, while the average age at clinical onset is five years.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the number of confirmed BSE cases in each year since 1993 for(a) Northern Ireland, (b) the Isle of Man, (c) Jersey and (d) Guernsey. [821]
§ Mrs. BrowningAs at 21 October 1996, the numbers of confirmed cases in each year since 1993 for(a) Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey are:
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1993 1994 1995 11996 Guernsey 115 69 44 230 Jersey 35 22 10 8 Northern Ireland 487 363 170 74 Isle of Man 111 53 32 310 1 Data incomplete. 2 Prior to 1993 all cases were confirmed by laboratory examination. Between 1993 and 1995 only born after banned feedstuffs cases were confirmed by laboratory examination; all other cases were confirmed on the basis of clinical diagnosis. From 1996 all cases are being confirmed on the basis of clinical diagnosis. 3 First three cases on a holding confirmed by laboratory examination, subsequent cases confirmed on the basis of clinical signs.
Mr. HinchcliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the age distribution of the dams of those cattle which developed BSE during each year from 1989 to 1996. [846]
§ Mrs. BrowningIt is not possible without disproportionate costs to give the information requested.
Mr. HinchcliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the continuing employment of the main mathematician working on the subject of BSE epidemiology at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. [847]
§ Mrs. BrowningStaff in the epidemiology department at the VLA include epidemiologists, statisticians and computer programmers. All staff employed by the agency are employed under the civil service standard terms and conditions. Scientists at the VLA are at the forefront of research in BSE and I am pleased to acknowledge their achievements and commitment.
§ Dr. StrangTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list each method of disposal that is(a) permitted and (b) currently in operation for (i) meat and bonemeal, (ii) tallow and (iii) each other waste product produced from cattle slaughtered under the 30-month scheme. [1453]
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[holding answer 31 October 1996]: Commission regulation 716/96 requires that the carcases of cattle purchased under the over-30-month scheme—OTMS— are disposed of by incineration or rendered and destroyed. Meat and bonemeal and tallow produced from rendered OTMS carcases is being stored pending destruction by the best practicable environmental option, for example, incineration or burning for energy recovery at power stations.
The only other waste products from the slaughter of OTMS cattle are blood and gut contents. These can be spread on agricultural land as a fertiliser for the benefit of agriculture or ecological improvement. It is a recovery operation for the purposes of the amended EC framework directive on waste and is controlled under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. Where blood is not spread on land in this way, it is discharged to foul sewer which is permitted subject to consents issued under the Water Industry Act 1991.
The independent Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, which advises Ministers on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has considered the current and proposed methods of disposing of cattle waste and concluded that they are safe. Specifically, in relation to the spreading of blood and gut contents on land, it concluded that there was no reason to recommend that this practice should be prohibited or thought to be inadvisable.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to change the formula for financial compensation for BSE cattle introduced on 1 April 1994 in order to encourage the future reporting of such animals. [820]
§ Mrs. BrowningNone. We have no evidence of any under-reporting. As farmers receive the full market value of their animals in compensation, there is no incentive for breaking the law by not reporting BSE suspects.
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§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the dates of birth and slaughter of each offspring succumbing to BSE during the period of the vertical transfer experiment outlined in theOfficial Report, 12 December 1994, columns 523–24, with further information provided by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee on 1 August; and which animal was in the test or control group. [822]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe cohort study in maternal transmission will be complete in early 1997. The full results of that study are expected to be available by mid-1997 and will provide the information requested.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide the monthly figures for suspected and confirmed BSE cases in the United Kingdom during 1996. [823]
§ Mrs. BrowningAs at 29 October 1996, the numbers of suspect cases reported by month, and the confirmations corresponding to those suspects for the UK are as follows:
Cases reported Cases confirmed 1 January 1,428 1,114 February 1,276 914 March 1,362 924 April 956 604 May 972 568 June 698 434 July 780 506 August 761 419 September 729 182 October 615 2 1 These data are incomplete because of the time lapse between report and confirmation.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what experiments are in progress aimed at identifying and quantifying the possible acquisition of BSE via pastures or buildings. [824]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe evidence on within-herd incidence of BSE which rose to a peak of 2.7 per cent. in 1992 and has subsequently declined, indicates that horizontal transmission is not occurring at a significant level. The limits of sensitivity of current assays for infectivity make it difficult to design experiments to address this concern directly, by looking, for example, for infectivity on pasture or surfaces. Any research proposals submitted for funding in this area will be assessed according to their scientific merit.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what experiments have been performed, or are in progress, to test whether BSE infectivity might be transferred from milk or blood of BSE-infected cattle to calves from a BSE-free source; and if he will give details of the results to date. [825]
§ Mrs. BrowningIn experimentally challenged cattle which were fed a large quantity—100 g—of BSE brain from clinical cases, infectivity was only detectable in the distal ileum six months after challenge. Experiments have582W also been carried out in which tissues taken from animals clinically affected with BSE were injected into susceptible mice. Infectivity is detected if the mice succumb to a BSE-like disease. The only tissues found in this test to have any BSE infectivity in them are the brain, spinal cord and retina of the eye.
No infectivity has been detected in 47 other tissues from clinically affected cattle, including blood and milk using bioassay in mice.
Details of the latest research on milk were given in paragraph 23 and appendix 5 of the November 1995 progress report, a copy of which was placed in the House Library.