Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether requiring breeding rams to be R R homozygous for resistance to scrapie would eliminate that disease within a decade.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)Although genetic approaches may well have an important role in the reduction of the incidence of scrapie the genetic basis of resistance is not as well characterised in some breeds of sheep as in others. The Government are funding more research in this important area. The state of scientific knowledge at present therefore means that I am not able to give a categorical answer to this question.