Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I am aware both of the confirmation of BSE in an animal born in Wales in 2002 and the reports of BSE being transmitted in an experimental sheep flock in the United Kingdom. There are no particular implications for Ireland as a result of either incident.

To date, 16 cases of BSE have been confirmed here in animals born after 1998, the most recent of which had a registered date of birth of March 2001. Similarly, the reports of BSE in a sheep flock, while informative, have no particular implications for BSE policy here.

The occurrence of BSE in animals born after 1998 does not detract from the decline in the incidence of the disease here and throughout the European Union. The epidemiological evidence here and in the United Kingdom suggests that a tight control on the use of mammalian meat and bone meal plays a significant role in reducing the incidence of the disease. It has been suggested in the UK that these cases may be related to imported feed as the controls in place in Ireland and the UK since 1996 were not introduced EU-wide until 2000. Given the incubation period for BSE, we will, at EU level, have to wait several more years before the full effect of the complete ban on the use of processed animal proteins can be measured.

Apart from the aforementioned case in the UK, no case of BSE has been identified in the EU sheep population despite the fact that testing, which is capable of discriminating BSE from scrapie, is now mandatory throughout the EU. Were such a case to be identified here consideration would have to be given to how to deal with the affected flock and the progeny of the affected animal. Although a case of BSE has been confirmed in a single goat in France, no such cases have been experienced in Ireland and should such a case be confirmed here decisions about control measures would have to be taken. The Department continues to operate a range of controls at various locations to protect public health and eradicate BSE and scrapie.

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