Brussels, 23/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council on Monday 22 February, Belgium called for a relaxation of the rules on BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) screening tests, and the Commission acknowledged that, in the light of the fall in the number of cases of this epizootic (only 59 in 2009, with 13 in Spain and 11 in the United Kingdom), amendment of certain measures could be considered without any threat to public health.
Belgium called for a change in its status, from a country which presents a “negligible risk” to one with a “controlled risk”. This change would mean an end to expensive screening tests on healthy animals, without, it said, increasing health risks for consumers. It also called for the age from which bovines have to be tested to be increased from 48 to 60 months, and the phasing out of tests for animals born after 1 January 2004.
A new roadmap on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) (with a change in measures to tackle BSE over the period from 2010 to 2015) will be brought forward by the European Commission in June, said new Health Commissioner John Dalli. The review of the BSE testing regime would be a key point, he said. Screening is not primarily aimed at protecting the consumer from the risks of BSE. Consumers are protected by the systematic removal of certain high-risk organs such as bovine brains and spine, the commissioner stated. (L.C./transl.rt)