ABSTRACT
BSE in the UK cattle herd is now demonstrably in sharp decline, having fallen 67 per cent from a peak in 1992-3: numbers of confirmed cases:
(To set these figures in context, the UK cattle herd numbers approximately 11. 5 million.)
1.13. The immediate response to the announcement in March 1996 of a possible link between BSE and CJD, SEAC’S advice at that stage, and the crisis in consumer confidence, was:
(i) a total ban on use of MBM in all farm animal feed-thereby going beyond EU rules, to ensure that no cross-contamination of cattle feed is possible;
(ii) the whole head of bovine animals now proscribed as SBM; (iii) an increase in the Meat Hygiene Service budget noted above (thereby
doubling the agency’s total budget); (iv) a ban on sale for human consumption of meat from cattle over 30 months
old (cases of BSE are very rare in cattle below this age); (v) the slaughter, rendering and incineration of all bovine animals over 30
months at the end of their useful lives. This has resulted in the slaughter of over 60,000 animals since May 1996, and the total will reach 1 million in the first year of operation.
