§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many confirmed BSE cases there were in each year between 1988 and 1998 in(a) Eire, (b) Portugal and (c) Switzerland. [66561]
§ Mr. RookerThe following table shows by calendar year the number of confirmed cases of BSE in Eire, Portugal and Switzerland.
Number of confirmed BSE cases per year Year Eire1 Portugal1 Switzerland2 1988 0 0 — 1989 0 0 — 1990 11 0 1 1991 17 0 9 1992 18 0 15 1993 16 1 29 1994 19 7 63 1995 16 14 68 1996 73 29 45 1997 77 30 38 19983 79 104 14 1 Data obtained from The Commission, Directorate-General VI 18/1/99. 2 Based on data provided by the British Embassy, Berne. 3 Date of last confirmation: Eire 23 December 1998, Portugal 31 December 1998, Switzerland 10 December 1998.
§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what experiments have shown the presence of BSE infectivity in cattle feed. [66506]
§ Mr. RookerNone. Existing methods for the surveillance of compliance with the statutory feed bans detect the presence of mammalian proteins rather than infectivity. The detection of infectivity would require inoculation of laboratory animals on a very large scale without guaranteeing a satisfactory outcome.
However, experiments have shown that if material which is rendered to produce meat and bone meal is artificially infected with either BSE or scrapie containing brain before rendering, detectable levels of infectivity can be found in the meat and bone meal resulting from the rendering processes which were in use in the UK in the late 1980s. Until July 1988, meat and bone meal was a permitted constituent of feed for cattle and sheep.
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§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the average figures for compensation paid to farmers for cattle each year between 1988 and 1998 that were(a) reported as suspect BSE cases and not subsequently confirmed as such, and (b) reported as suspect BSE cases and subsequently confirmed as such. [66505]
§ Mr. RookerThe following table shows by calendar year the average compensation rates paid to farmers for animals slaughtered as BSE suspects:
£ Year Average compensation paid if BSE confirmed Average compensation paid if BSE not confirmed 1988 205.27 410.54 1989 314.61 629.22 1990 521.62 692.20 1991 543.84 679.81 1992 652.42 815.52 1993 889.89 1,112.37 1994 848.87 1,061.09 1995 618.78 773.47 1996 650.90 813.63 1997 578.15 722.68 1998 653.55 816.94 These figures have been calculated by dividing the total expenditure in a calendar year by the number of animals slaughtered as BSE suspects which were placed under restriction in that year. Because of the delay in making payments following slaughter and confirmation of the disease status of an animal, this calculation does not give a true average payment for the year.
A true average of individual payments could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.