Brussels, 09/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - By adopting, in 2008, surveillance and eradication measures (EC Regulation 746/2008) that were less binding than earlier measures for protection against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in sheep and goats, the Commission did not breach the precautionary principle or go against the obligation to maintain a high level of health protection within the EU, the General Court states in its ruling of Friday 9 September, Case T-257/07. It thus confirms the validity of such measures and rejects the application for annulment introduced by France, which felt that the said measures comprised risks for human health beyond a level that was acceptable.
In order to adopt the disputed measures, the Commission had based itself on data attesting to: - the lack of any epidemiological link between scrapie in small ruminants and TSE affecting humans (especially BSE - bovine spongiform encephalopathy); - and the prevalence, probably very low, of BSE in sheep and goats thanks to new testing methods of animals considered reliable by experts, allowing BSE scrapie to be identified rapidly and reliably.
In its ruling, the General Court argues that, on this basis, the Commission had not committed a manifest error of risk assessment when considering the likelihood of TSE in sheep and goats, other than BSE, to be very low in its transmissibility to humans. Regarding risk management for human health, the Commission, it states, adjusted the regulation to the new perception of risk arising from recent scientific discoveries and knowledge. Also if, due to the imperfect nature of testing, the contested measures do entail a rise in exposure risk for humans to TSE of small ruminants, then the Commission has still not committed any manifest error of assessment as it considered that, on the basis of scientific opinion available, such measures did not generate risk for human health beyond a risk deemed acceptable for society. (F.G./transl.jl)