I propose to take Questions Nos. 105, 106, 107 and 108 together.
Since January 1989, 19 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been confirmed. Five were imported animals and investigations into the remainder suggest an association with imported meat and bonemeal. The disease was made notifiable with effect from 1 April 1989 and affected or suspected animals are slaughtered immediately and their carcases destroyed. Routine monitoring is carried out at our meat plants and suspected cases are referred for diagnosis. In all instances, that diagnosis has yielded negative results. My Department have also purchased the progeny of affected dams. This is simply a precautionary measure as there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted from animal to offspring.
The BSE situations in the UK and Ireland are not comparable. There have been 19 cases here out of a total cattle population of seven million as opposed to over 13,000 in a British cattle population of 12 million. These figures indicate that the UK has an indigenous source of the disease whereas we do not. This is reflected in the fact that while the EC has imposed restrictions on the export of cattle from the UK, similar action has not been deemed necessary in the case of our exports.