Vol. 528 No. 3
84 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has satisfied himself that the burial of BSE infected cattle poses no threat to surface and groundwater supplies; if his attention has been drawn to the burial of large numbers of cattle at Cloonliffin and at Cloonenagh near Ballinrobe, County Mayo; if he has established whether any of these cattle died from BSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30227/00]
The overwhelming weight of current scientific evidence is that the most likely transmission routes for BSE are through the consumption by cattle of infected meat and bone meal or from dam to calf. There is no evidence to suggest that the practice of burying BSE suspect animals is a factor in the spread of BSE in cattle or vCJD in humans. Indeed I understand that research conducted by the UK Environment Agency in 1997, concluded in relation to burial in landfill sites, that the risk of an individual ingesting sufficient infective material from carcasses buried in those sites was negligible.
In relation to the burial by a knackery operator of cattle at Cloonliffen and Cloonenagh near Ballinrobe, County Mayo between 1991 and 1992, my Department has no basis for suspecting that any of the animals involved were infected with BSE, and there is no way of testing them for the disease at this stage. As for any potential threat to water supplies, this is, of course, a matter for which local authorities have the requisite statutory responsibility. Naturally, my Department will provide Mayo County Council with all available information to enable it to assess any potential risk to water supplies.
