Vol. 552 No. 2
13 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if his Department has estimated the potential cost of a complete cull of animals at risk from BSE; the action he intends to take on foot of the study conducted by the Food Safety Authority and his Department on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11892/02]
At the request of the CJD advisory committee, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and my Department conducted a feasibility study of a targeted cull of older cattle in the context of providing additional consumer protection. The animal age groups at greatest risk of developing clinical signs of BSE were identified on the basis of currently available epidemiological information. The data were used to develop scenarios that would illustrate the range, effectiveness and efficiency of a proposed culling programme. A number of scenarios were considered including the removal of all animals born before 1998, which would require the culling of 2.07 million cattle and the removal of all animals born before 1996, which would require the culling of 1.15 million cattle. While the study did not consider the cost of a cull, at an estimated overall cost of €800 per animal the total costs of the culls would be approximately €1.6 billion and €920 million respectively.
Following on from the study, the FSAI concluded that if the Irish risk reduction measures in place to eliminate exposure of consumers to the BSE agent, including the testing of all animals over 30 months after slaughter, are fully adhered to there is no scientific basis for proposing a targeted cull of animals over an agreed age in terms of additional consumer protection. This conclusion was accepted by the CJD advisory committee. It is worth noting that despite the vastly increased levels of active surveillance, the age profile of confirmed cases has been improving since 2000. 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 older animals leave the system.
