Vol. 542 No. 5
127 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the total number of cases of BSE reported to date in 2001; the way in which this compares with the same period during 2000; the number of cases identified by traditional passive surveillance; the numbers identified by testing in meat plants; if he has satisfied himself that adequate procedures are in place to combat the spread of BSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25119/01]
Some 157 cases of BSE have been confirmed in 2001 to date – up to 18 October – compared to 101 to the end of October 2000. In addition three positive cohort animals have been detected.
In 2001, 81 cases have been detected through traditional passive surveillance and 76 cases through active surveillance. Of the cases identified through active surveillance, 53 were fallen animals identified in knackeries, 21 were over 30 month animals in meat plants and two were casualty animals also at meat plants. The entire increase in 2001 is, therefore, attributable to more intensive active surveillance, particularly among fallen animals which would not, in any event, have entered the human food chain.
I am satisfied that a comprehensive range of measures is in place for the control and eradication of BSE, including compulsory notification of the disease, the depopulation of herds, the tracing and slaughter of birth cohorts and progeny of the infected animal, a ban on the use of meat and bone meal for farmed animals and the removal and destruction of specified risk materials from ruminant animals. In addition all cattle presented for slaughter over 30 months of age are tested for BSE and all fallen and casualty animals over 24 months of age are also tested for the disease.
Moreover, unlike many other member states whose BSE controls were tightened up at the end of 1999, none of the positive animals identified in Ireland to date have been born after May 1996. This indicates that the enhanced controls introduced in this country in 1996 are working, and that the disease should begin to work its way out of the national herd as animals born prior to 1996 leave the system.
