Cows exported from Britain may have carried BSE

BSE Cases in Europe 'Go Unreported'

The Government and UK farmers have long maintained that other European countries have underestimated the scale of BSE infection in their cattle herds.

The report showed that more than 55,400 cattle were exported from Britain to other EU countries for breeding between 1985 and 1989, when exports were halted to curb the spread of the disease.

If these cattle had remained in Britain, an estimated 1,642 of them would have been likely to have contracted BSE, the vets are said to have concluded.

The report's findings

Yet European countries had admitted to a total of only 285 cases, most of them in Switzerland, where authorities have also maintained that the number of cases elsewhere in Europe was far higher than was being admitted to.

The Agriculture Minister Jack Cunningham said he wanted to study the new statistics in detail, as well as other documentation, before deciding whether any action was needed.

Jack Cunningham tells the BBC's Today programme he will examine the figures closely
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"Then I want to consider whether it would be appropriate for me to pursue the whole issue in the Council of Ministers," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Cunningham said standards of reporting and recording BSE cases varied widely across the Continent.

"There's a wide variation in practice in the European Union. Some countries actually appear to have a financial incentive for their farmers not to report suspected cases of BSE, which does seem bizarre, if it is true," he said.

Scientists fear the huge number of apparently unreported cases may lead to BSE spreading in Europe as meat from infected animals could be used in animal food, leading to even more cases, many of which will again go unreported.

Infected beef may go unreported

Many of the worst apparent offenders are countries where the campaigns against British beef have been the strongest since March last year.

In Germany, the expected number of cases by now would be 243. Yet the number so far officially reported has been just five, about 2%.

Spain has reported none, where 54 have been expected, Portugal has reported 61 instead of 262 and the Irish Republic has reported 188, as opposed to the anticipated number of 911.

So far, some 168,000 cattle have died in the UK from BSE since 1988, but a total of only 515 cases have been reported from all other parts of the world, including the EU - despite the exports of cattle from Britain.

Farmers' representatives welcomed the findings. "This report vindicates the position taken by the NFU and the Government," said Ben Gill, National Farmers' Union deputy president.

"It also vindicates the position of Franz Fischler, EU Farm Commissioner, to secure tight controls throughout the EU. We have made the point all along that BSE is not just a British problem," he added.

The research findings were published in The Veterinary Record, the official journal of the British Veterinary Association.

The research was carried out by John Wilesmith, head of epidemiology at the Government's Central Veterinary Laboratory, Dr Bram Schreuder of Holland's Institute of Animal Science and Health, and Professor O C Straub, of Germany's Federal Research Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals.

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