Liam Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

Senators will be aware that the profile of scrapie increased dramatically in recent years because of its possible association with BSE. While scrapie is a disease of sheep without any known human health dimension, it is also one of a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, TSEs, of which BSE is a member.

While there is no evidence that sheep can be infected with BSE under natural conditions, we do know that sheep injected with BSE material under experimental conditions exhibited clinical symptoms which were almost identical to scrapie. We also know that scientists in Europe are working on the development of differential tests which would distinguish between the scrapie and BSE agents and that such tests, although not yet finally approved by the EU scientific steering committee, are being used to test scrapie positive samples in the United Kingdom for BSE.

Against this background and in the absence of any horizontal measures for dealing with the disease at EU level, the priority accorded in Ireland to dealing with scrapie increased over the past two years. We have adopted a multi-strand policy involving depopulation of infected flocks, active surveillance and a scrapie genotyping experiment with a limited number of flocks.

In relation to genotyping, my Department has been aware for some time that the degree of susceptibility to scrapie appears to be linked to genotype and of the possibility that programmes for breeding for resistance might be used as a strategy against the disease. This issue has been the subject of considerable debate at the EU scientific steering committee, where there was some doubt as to whether genetic resistance simply meant that the resistant animals, though carrying the infective agent, did not exhibit clinical symptoms.

I am pleased to say that from a policy perspective the debate at EU level has now developed with the promulgation of regulations requiring member states to conduct a genetic survey of native pedigree breeds by 1 October 2003, to put voluntary breeding programmes in place for such breeds by 1 January 2004 and allowing, with effect from 1 October 2003, for strategies for dealing with infected flocks ranging from full depopulaton with a prohibition on using the land for sheep for a period of three years, to genotyping and partial depopulation of flocks.