Question
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what plans he has to test randomly the brains of slaughtered dairy cows for BSE. - Includes figure.
Answer
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to test randomly the brains of slaughtered dairy cows for BSE. [66503] Mr. Rooker: A study of brain tissue from cattle slaughtered in the Over Thirty Months Scheme was started on 4 January 1999. The aim is to collect, by the end of March, samples from 4,000 animals. The brain samples will be tested for the presence of abnormal prion protein (PrP{Sc}) by two or more of the recently developed diagnostic tests, and also studied by histopathology for evidence of vacuolation. In compliance with a recommendation from SEAC, the study is being confined, in so far as is possible, to animals 5 years of age or over. 5 years is the average incubation period of BSE and PrP{Sc} has been detected in brain tissue only quite late in the BSE incubation period.