11/1/2008online:
11/1/2008
14 cases of 'mad cow
disease' found in NI herds By Linda McKee Source of Article: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/14-cases-of-mad-cow-disease-found-in-ni-herds-14032346.html Fourteen cases of ‘mad cow disease’ were picked
up in Another three cases of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy — or BSE — have since been confirmed in fallen cattle in All cases were found in cattle over 48 months of
age, the Department of Agriculture said. DARD has just launched a consultation on plans
to raise the age of BSE testing to 48 months. At
present, all healthy slaughtered cattle aged above 30 months and all cattle
above 24 months deemed to be at risk of catching BSE must be tested. Under the new plan, all cattle over 48 months of
age — either being slaughtered for human consumption or fallen stock — would
have to be BSE tested. The change in testing age must first be agreed
by the Food Standards Authority Board and health ministers before it can be
implemented in the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
are fatal, degenerative brain diseases which include BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans.
Up until April this year more than 163 people
have died in A British inquiry into BSE concluded that the
epidemic was caused by cattle being fed the remains of other cattle in the
form of meat and bone meal. Between 460,000 and 482,000 BSE-infected animals
had entered the human food chain before controls on high-risk offal were
introduced in 1989. More than 179,000 cattle were infected and 4.4m slaughtered
during a massive eradication programme. The plan to change the “This age was determined on the basis of advice
from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),” a DARD spokesman said. “BSE will remain a notifiable
disease and cattle of all ages reported as suspect clinical cases must
continue to be tested. Controls on Specified Risk Material (SRM) eg brains and spinal cord, which are the key controls to
protect public health, will remain as currently, as will controls on animal
feed which are the key controls to protect animal health.” The consultation will run from October 31 to December
3 and can be viewed on DARD’s website. Copies of
the consultation are available from TSE Branch, Room 714, Dundonald
House, Comments must be received by the department no
later than December 3. “The short
consultation period is necessary to meet the EU’s expected timetable and
allow the possibility of applying these proposals from January 1, 2009,” the
spokesman said. |
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