Brussels, 17/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - So as to push further ahead with the external chapter of Community legislation on the withdrawal of specified risk materials (SRMs), the EU's Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) made public its opinion on Wednesday of the Geographical Risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in two candidate countries (Romania and Slovenia) and in two third countries (Costa Rica and Kenya). It considers that the presence of BSE is possible in herds in Romania (Geographical Risk level III), and unlikely but cannot be excluded in herds in Kenya and Slovenia (Geographic Risk level II). It also concludes that it is highly unlikely that cattle infected with the BSE agent are present in domestic herds in Costa Rica (Geographic Risk level I). The SSC stresses that Slovenia is the first candidate country for accession to be classified level II, whereas all other candidate countries having to date been the subject of an assessment have been placed in the third category.
BSE risk-evaluation in third countries and applicant countries have already been carried out in: Uruguay in January, Botswana, Lithuania, Namibia, Nicaragua and Swaziland in February, Albania, Brazil, Cyprus, Colombia, Estonia, Hungary, India, Mauritius, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore and the Czech Republic in April. The complete text of the opinions is available at the following address: http: //europa.eu.int/com/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html