§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when specified bovine material was banned in(a) the Irish Republic and (b) each other EU country. [14770]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe three other EU member states which have reported cases of BSE in native-born animals—France, Irish Republic and Portugal—all have some form of specified bovine material controls on cattle at slaughter. We understand the following controls apply.
The Irish Republic introduced legislation on 22 April 1996, prohibiting the use, sale or export of specified bovine material—defined as the bones of the skull, brain, eyes, spinal cord, spleen, thymus, tonsils and intestines 270W and mechanically recovered meat obtained from bovine vertebrae excluding the tail—for human consumption unless licensed by the Minister.
In France legislation came into force on 28 June 1996 requiring the removal at the abattoir and incineration of:
(a) the brains, spinal cord and eyes of all bovines over six months; and(b) the thymus, tonsils, spleen and intestines of cattle born or imported into France before 31 July 1991.In addition, legislation introduced in September 1996, amending the June order, prohibits the sale of brains, spinal cord and eyes of bovines over six months.
In Portugal, legislation came into force on 28 January 1997 banning the use of certain bovine materials—including brains, spinal cord, eyes, tonsils, spleen, thymus and intestines—from any cattle of any age in the preparation of medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products and in food.
No other member states have SBM controls on domestic production. The Government continue to press the Commission on this matter.
§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to complete its investigation of possible links between the use of organophosphate warble fly treatments and the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and if he will make a statement. [14823]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 7 February 1997]: The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee is not currently investigating the use of organophosphate pesticides and a possible link with BSE. The theory that BSE could have been caused by the exposure of cattle to OP pesticides as a treatment for warble fly infestation has already been considered in detail by scientists in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health and the Medical Research Council. A report from SEAC entitled "Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies—A Summary of Present knowledge and Research" (HMSO ISBN 0 11 242 9874) published in 1995 and available in the Library of the House, reviewed a number of alternative theories of BSE, including the OP theory, concluded that none justified extending the current research programme to investigate them further at that stage. The report notes that the original epidemiological investigation considered any possible association between the use of agricultural chemicals, including OP insecticides, and the occurrence of BSE. None was found.
I am aware of the recent press reports concerning new research carried out by the Institute of Psychiatry on behalf of Mr. Purdey into the use of phosmet and its possible association with BSE. Mr. Purdey has yet to produce any new scientific evidence to support his hypothesis or to cause us to question ours that BSE is of feed origin; a hypothesis that has been established form objective scientific research.
271WSEAC will be looking again at the possibility of a link between BSE and the use of certain OPs. Mr. Purdey has been asked to prepare a paper for presentation at a forthcoming SEAC meeting to define the latest theory on organophosphates and a possible link with BSE.