Defra announces changes
to Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSES) testing
DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (316/08) issued by
COI News Distribution Service. 30 September 2008
Information Bulletin
The number of cases of BSE and scrapie, included in a family of
brain diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
(TSEs), in Great Britain has continued to fall. Following
consultation on TSE responsibility and cost-sharing proposals
which ended earlier this year, Defra today announced how testing
for TSEs will be managed in future.
In 2007 there were 53 confirmed cases of BSE compared to 37,000
in 1992, and 82 confirmed cases of scrapie, compared to 597 in
1999. Further reductions are expected in 2008. The requirement to
destroy cattle slaughtered over 30 months old, under the Over
Thirty Months (OTM) Scheme, was replaced with BSE testing in 2005
and the export ban was removed in 2006. Defra has therefore
decided that industry will now take control of the cost of
collecting and disposing of fallen adult cattle.
There is no increased risk to the public as a result of these
changes. Public health measures to protect consumers remain
unchanged. Controls in abattoirs, including the testing of cattle
and the removal of specified risk material, such as brain and
spinal cord, will remain in place, as will controls on feed to
protect animal health.
From mid January next year, the free collection and disposal
service for adult cattle that have died or been killed on farm
will end. To help industry in the transition period, £2m will be
made available to the National Fallen Stock Company for cattle
that will still need to be tested for BSE. This subsidy will last
for a year, after which, the Company will transfer to industry ownership.
Defra will not seek to recover £3.8m as a contribution towards
the costs of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) as originally proposed
and abattoirs will not need to pay for BSE tests until January
2009. The Food Standards Agency is preparing to consult later this
year on revised charges for recovering a proportion of the costs
of MHS controls. The proposals are expected to include charges of
about £0.2m in 2009/10 for the additional controls on cattle that
need to be tested for BSE. Laboratories that wish to offer a BSE
testing service will be able to do so but they will need to meet
the required standards and to pay for the cost of the approvals
process with immediate effect.
Farm visits under the voluntary Ram Genotyping Scheme, that since
2001 has provided free genotyping to increase resistance and
reduce scrapie, will end in December 2008. The Scheme will close
in March 2009 with no new applications accepted from today. The
National Sheep Association and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust will
take over its semen archive in November 2008. The Scottish
Agricultural College will administer a new industry-funded Scrapie
Monitoring Scheme from January 2009.
Further information about the TSE proposals for England can be
found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/ahw-nextsteps/index.htm
Similar consultations have been completed in Scotland and Wales.
No decisions will be made in Northern Ireland until the Northern
Ireland consultation closes on 20 October and responses have been considered.
Notes for Editors
1. Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) are fatal,
degenerative brain diseases such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in
sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans
2. Defra consulted on seven specific TSE responsibility and cost
sharing proposals on 11 December 2007. The consultation ended on
15 April 2008. The decisions outlined above will not affect
public health. Action required under EU and national legislation
when when BSE is confirmed in cattle or scrapie is confirmed in
sheep and goats will remain unchanged.
3. In 2007, there were 53 confirmed cases of BSE in GB compared
with over 37,000 clinical cases in 1992. In 2007, there were 82
cases of scrapie compared with 597 clinical cases in 1999. A
further decline in both BSE and scrapie cases is expected in 2008.
4. Since 2001, the Government has arranged and funded the
collection and disposal of fallen adult cattle that have required
BSE tests under EU rules. The service currently costs the taxpayer
about £36m per year in GB. The Government will continue to meet
the costs of taking and analysing brainstem samples. The TSE
testing programme as a whole costs the taxpayer over £60m in GB.
5. The National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) was created in 2003
to run the National Fallen Stock Scheme. NFSCo is currently owned
by Defra and the 3 Devolved Administrations as a company limited
by guarantee. Government provided £20m funding on a UK basis for
four years for the collection and disposal of fallen stock other
than fallen adult cattle. This funding is due to end in November
2008. The new funding of £2m for fallen adult cattle that require
BSE testing applies to GB.
6. Further information on MHS charging proposals can be found at
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/pressreleases/2008/jul/meathygieneserviceproposals
The figures of £3.8m and £0.2m are on a GB basis.
7. Since 2001, the Ram Genotyping Scheme has provided free
scrapie genotyping of 1.8m sheep in 11,000 flocks contributing to
the significant increases in the resistance of mainstream breeds
and the reduction in scrapie. Farm visits by Animal Health staff
to blood sample rams will end in December 2008 so that the Scheme
can be closed at the end of March 2009. The semen archive was
established in 2004 in case valuable traits were lost through
breeding for scrapie resistance. This has not happened.
8. The Scrapie Monitoring Scheme allows producers to demonstrate
that they meet the scrapie export requirements for breeding sheep.
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