Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-16-Speech-2-141"
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"en.20000516.6.2-141"2
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"Mr President, legislation which seeks to protect the public from a terrible brain disease such as new variant CJD should be drafted to complement measures already in place in Member States, to recognise the stage of the epidemic that we are at and have due regard to the body of scientific knowledge we have built up. The United Kingdom already has comprehensive and effective measures in place to protect human health and eradicate BSE in our herd. This is working. Cases of BSE are declining rapidly. But most importantly, so far, we have not had a case in an animal born since the complete feed ban was introduced. That should be happening around about now, if it was going to. No older animals over 30 months of age enter the food chain.
It is likely that cases may occur due to maternal transmission but these will be isolated and not feed-related, and there is no justification for a return to cohort culling. Incidentally – and Mrs Grossetête referred to this – there has been recent press speculation about a third possible infection route through grass contaminated by faecal material. This only applies – as I understand – to animals excreting pathogens ingested with contaminated feed, not, as some newspapers inferred, from animals incubating or suffering from this disease.
I am concerned about the practicality and cost of having to post-mortem all animals for which the cause of death is unknown. Very large numbers of animals die of natural causes or common ailments. BSE is a degenerative disease which does not cause sudden death anyway. Amendment No 26 seeks universally to impose the whole-herd slaughter policy which some Member States with low levels of incidence have introduced in an attempt to reassure the public. This could well result in the under-reporting of cases, as we have seen in Switzerland recently. BSE is not an infectious disease that is transmitted horizontally. Whole-herd slaughter has no scientific justification. The majority of herds that have experienced BSE in the UK have had only one or two isolated cases. Most herds in Britain are not closed herds and therefore animals come in from all over the place. If one of those animals gets a disease, why kill the whole herd?
Whole-herd slaughter is not an effective way of reducing cases of BSE. It would cost a small fortune for no tangible benefit. I hope Parliament, in amending this directive, will do so in the light of sound scientific advice, not as a knee-jerk reaction to tabloid newspaper scare stories."@en1
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