Book Description

This volume is concerned with the response to BSE as a disease threatening animal health. The response to BSE as a disease threatening human health is considered in volume 6 of the report, 'Human health 1989-96'. The division into two topics has been done in order to make the story easier to follow. It is, however, arbitrary and to a degree artificial, in that the best way to protect humans from any risk that there might be of transmission of BSE was to eradicate the disease in cattle. The ruminant feed ban (RFB) and the animal Specified Bovine Offal (SBO) ban, which are focussed on in this document, were primarily animal health measures which had important implications for human health. The slaughter and compensation scheme, which was primarily introduced to take diseased animals out of the human food chain, is covered in volume 6.The ruminant content of meat and bone meal (MBM) incorporated in cattle feed had been identified as the source of infection of BSE. The ruminant feed ban aimed to prevent any of this material from being incorporated in ruminant feed. The animal Specified Bovine Offal (SBO) ban, introduced in September 1990 was not designed to protect ruminant animals but to protect non-ruminant animals, whose diet included ruminant protein. The ban was intended to divert at source the SBOs, when severed from the carcass, keeping them separate from material destined for animal feed, and ensuring that they were disposed of as waste.It was not until 1994 that it became clear to MAFF officials that neither the RFB nor the SBO ban was fully effective. Chapter 2 considers the steps taken to implement, enforce and monitor the RFB. Implementation was the responsibility of those who supplied or used ruminant feed. Enforcement was the responsibility of the local authorities but Trading Standards Officers were powerless to enforce the ban as there was no reliable test that could demonstrate, to a high standard of proof, that feed contained ruminant protein.The introduction of the SBO ban is considered in chapter 3. This was initially introduced by the majority of the feed trade on a voluntary basis. The attitude of MAFF officials and Ministers, at this stage, was that the ban was neither necessary nor desirable. A statutory ban was later introduced in haste and without consultation.The working of the SBO ban is covered in chapters 4a and 4b: 4a is a narrative of events relevant to the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of the animal SBO ban, 4b contains a detailed discussion of the adequacy of these measures. Deficiencies in the legislative scheme are examined in some length as they had serious consequences. The adequacy of the steps taken by MAFF officials to make the ban work and remedy its defects is also examined.Cattle tracking is dealt with in chapter 5. The Agriculture Select Committee recommended in 1990 that MAFF should set up a computerised animal tracing system. The response that the cost of such a system was not justified by the benefits is considered.Breeding and artificial insemination are covered in chapter 6.