Written Answers. - Bovine Diseases.
Pat Rabbitte
Question:
163
Mr. Rabbitte
asked the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
the research which is being undertaken here on the possibility that sheep could be infected by BSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[25123/01]
Scrapie is not a new disease in sheep and has been recorded for over 200 years. Since 1990, scrapie has been identified here in over 120 flocks out of a national total of more than 40,000 flocks. My Department has been active for the past decade in the detection, monitoring and control of scrapie. Our approach has been guided primarily by public health considerations, developed within the framework of measures to address transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, TSEs, generally and based on the best available current scientific research and knowledge.
The measures taken by my Department over the past decade which are relevant to scrapie are as follows: flock owners are obliged by law to notify the Department of suspected cases of scrapie – these animals are tested by the veterinary laboratory service and destroyed if positive; the feeding to ruminants, including sheep, of meat and bone meal has been banned since 1990, and controls in this area were significantly strengthened in 1996; controls of specified risk material covering both cattle and sheep were unilaterally introduced in 1997; since 1998, the Department has maintained a programme of active scrapie surveillance, which involves random testing of 8,000 samples at meat factories – plans have been made to increase this programme to 15,000 samples from 1 January 2002 and the necessary preparatory work has been going on for some time; a genotyping project, aimed at identifying the best means of breeding scrapie out of the national flock, has been undertaken since 1999 – this involves assessing the feasibility of breeding genetic resistance to the disease; a national sheep identification system which involves the individual identification and traceability of the entire national flock was introduced in June 2001 – this will facilitate more precise control and monitoring measures than ever before in relation to diseases, including scrapie, in sheep; restriction on the movement of sheep from flocks in which
scrapie has been confirmed.
The only definitive mechanism for differentiating between BSE and scrapie is the animal bioassay test which involves inoculating susceptible animals, usually mice with a particular susceptibility to BSE, with infective brain tissue from sheep infected with scrapie, and waiting for approximately two years until the mouse develops a TSE. This was the basis of well-publicised research in the UK, which appears to have been undermined by the revelation that the infective sample used was a bovine rather than an ovine sample. Strain-typing work carried out in Ireland has not given rise to any specific concerns about the possible presence of BSE in the national flock.
Notwithstanding this, and against the background of concern about TSEs in Europe, it is now being considered that we should depopulate those flocks in which scrapie has been confirmed in the past three years. To date 39 flocks have been movement restricted, 34 with a view to depopulation and five to be included in the scrapie research programme. The Department will be examining a further 87 flocks which were scrapie-positive prior to 1999. Depopulation of the 34 flocks will occur as soon as possible after the valuation process has been completed and suitable arrangements have been put in place to compensate flock owners affected by this decision.
If new scientific research emerges which indicates the desirability of adjusting or augmenting any of these measures, any necessary actions will be taken, as has consistently been the case heretofore.
