§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total cost of the BSE inquiry. [137365]
§ Mr. Nick BrownThe estimated cost of the BSE Inquiry to the public purse, including the cost of the Inquiry itself, and the liaison units, legal support for individuals and direct costs of witnesses who are serving civil servants in the main departments concerned, up to the date of reporting, is about £29 million.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the purchase of bovine material known to be infected with BSE for the purpose of research by non-Governmental bodies. [139631]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 21 November 2000]: My Department maintains an archive of BSE infected tissues which can be supplied to researchers on application provided they can fulfil some basic conditions relating to the use and the safe handling of the material. There is no charge for these tissues. If the consignment is unusually large the researchers may be asked to cover the transport costs.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent contacts there have been between his Department and Professor Stanley Prusiner regarding the prion theory of the origin of BSE. [139744]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 November 2000]: MAFF is currently funding Professor Prusiner to further his studies of TSEs. Professor Prusiner presented his recent findings and talked in detail about his theory for the origin of BSE to MAFF officials in September this year (2000).
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for the United Kingdom the572W research groups engaged in researching the origin, development and impact of BSE, and their level of Government funding. [139742]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 November 2000]: Research groups that have been funded this financial year (2000–01) to study the origin, development of the epidemic or impact of bovine BSE are:
£ Veterinary Laboratories Agency 1,963,929 Institute of Animal Health 333,582 Oxford University 20,616 Dr. W. V. S. Wijeratne 71,039 University of Edinburgh 28,018 Central Science Laboratory 135,149 King's College, London 108,108 In my statement to the House following publication of the Phillips Inquiry I announced that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and I would be commissioning an independent assessment of the origins of BSE which will be considered by SEAC. This will cover the scientific and epidemiological evidence presented to the Inquiry and other published and, where possible, emerging scientific work in the UK and elsewhere.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research the Government are funding concerning the prion theory of the origin of BSE. [139743]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 November 2000]: The research councils, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Centre (MRC) support basic research in this area. The research projects that they, and other funders of TSE research in the UK, are currently funding are listed on the MRC website: www:\mrc\ac\uk.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what restrictions his Department applies to access to BSE-injected material by independent researchers. [140194]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 27 November 2000]: MAFF funds the maintenance of an archive of tissues and body fluids collected from cattle naturally and experimentally infected with BSE. Requests from independent researchers are met, taking account of the availability of the sample requested, whether arrangements can be made to collect the sample if it is not already held, and whether there are competing demands for the same sample, in which case a judgment has to be made on the relative priorities of the respective requests. Independent researchers are asked to confirm that the material provided will only be used for BSE research, that they have laboratories of the required disease containment level for handling the BSE agent and that the material will not be made available to other workers or organisations without prior permission from MAFF.