Dan Neville
Question:52 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the county by county breakdown of confirmed BSE cases for 2002; and the reason for the county variation. [3983/03]
Written Answers. - Bovine Diseases.
A breakdown of BSE cases county by county for 2002 follows. It is not possible to be definitive about the reasons for the variation in the numbers of BSE cases between counties. However, the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence is that BSE is primarily caused by the consumption of infected meat and bone meal by the affected animals. Therefore, the likely explanations for the variation in the numbers of cases identified in each county are the type of farming enterprise carried out and the cattle populations. The higher numbers of cases tend to occur generally where animals are more intensively reared and were, therefore, more likely to have been exposed to contaminated feed in the years prior to 1996, when cross contamination in feed mills cannot be excluded.
The feeding of meat and bonemeal to ruminants was banned in 1990. Enhanced controls were introduced to prohibit feed mills using meat and bone meal to produce pig and poultry feed from producing ruminant feed, in order to prevent cross contamination of feed in October 1996. Controls in relation to specified risk material and the processing of mammalian waste products were also introduced at this time and in February and March 1997 respectively. A comprehensive ban on the use of processed animal products for feeding to farm animals is in place since 1 January 2001.
County by county Breakdown of confirmed cases of BSE in 2002.
|
County |
Totals |
|
Carlow |
6 |
|
Cavan |
37 |
|
Clare |
11 |
|
Cork N |
25 |
|
Cork S |
34 |
|
Donegal |
7 |
|
Dublin |
1 |
|
Galway |
14 |
|
Kerry |
20 |
|
Kildare |
0 |
|
Kilkenny |
13 |
|
Laois |
7 |
|
Leitrim |
6 |
|
County |
Totals |
|
Limerick |
19 |
|
Longford |
2 |
|
Louth |
7 |
|
Mayo |
9 |
|
Meath |
22 |
|
Monaghan |
26 |
|
Offaly |
5 |
|
Roscommon |
10 |
|
Sligo |
6 |
|
Tipperary N |
2 |
|
Tipperary S |
11 |
|
Waterford |
8 |
|
Westmeath |
6 |
|
Wexford |
16 |
|
Wicklow |
3 |
|
Total |
333 |
The above figures include 4 additional positive cohort animals that were detected in depopulated herds.