Vol. 556 No. 5
19 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his views regarding claims by a person (details supplied) that the number of cases of BSE detected here to date is likely to represent only one in 20 of the true total; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20814/02]
Ireland, in common with other EU member states, has had a comprehensive system of targeted active surveillance for BSE in place since 1 January 2001. Under current EU legislation, all fallen and casualty animals over 24 months of age and all slaughter cattle over 30 months of age are tested for the disease, using a rapid test validated by the EU Commission. Almost 675,000 animals were tested under this regime in 2001: 246 positive cases were confirmed in that year compared with 149 in 2000, when active surveillance was not in place. Of the 246 cases, 119 were detected through active surveillance and 81 were among fallen animals which were not, in any event, intended for the food chain. Likewise for 2002, the number of cases detected through active surveillance represents 67% of the total number of cases and the bulk of these were in fallen animals.
The increase in the number of BSE cases resulting from the introduction of active surveillance, which was only made possible by the validation by the EU Commission of rapid tests for BSE in mid-2000, confirms that in Ireland, as in all other EU member states, the number of BSE cases was higher than the number of cases identified by passive surveillance alone. It is not possible to say with certainty what the historic difference was between the detection and the infection rates. However, I remind the Deputy that BSE controls in place for many years aimed to prevent infection, primarily through a ban on the use of meat and bone meal in feed for cattle and sheep and the protection of public health through the removal and destruction of potentially infective materials, specified risk materials, from all bovine and ovine carcases intended for the human food chain or the animal feed chain. The rapid testing of cattle at slaughter provides added protection.
In relation to the source of infection, the dramatic change in the age profiles of animals confirmed with BSE in recent years clearly shows that the enhanced feed and specified risk material controls introduced in 1996 and 1997 have had a dramatic effect on the number of infections since then. Only 1% of cases diagnosed to date in 2002 were at less than six years old at the time of diagnosis compared with 16% in 2001 and 40% in 2000. Some 281 of the 284 cases diagnosed so far in 2002 were born in 1996 or earlier. No cases have been diagnosed in animals born in 1998, the year from which the scientific steering committee judged Ireland's control system to be optimally stable.
This is a positive indication that the enhanced controls introduced in 1996 and 1997 have succeeded in cutting off the source of BSE infection and that the incidence of BSE will decline as animals born prior to the introduction of those controls leave the system. Finally, Ireland's handling of all aspects of BSE is subject to ongoing scrutiny from various perspectives by independent bodies such as the EU's Food and Veterinary Office, the Food and Safety Authority of Ireland and others and has been recognised time and again as comprehensive, rigorous and responsible.
