Brussels, 29/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) published, on 24 October, an opinion on the safety of products of sheep and goat origin, should BSE be confirmed or considered likely among small ruminants. It concludes that, to date, there is no proof that BSE can be present among small ruminants at the experimental stage, but it does not rule out the possibility that in the past sheep had been fed with potentially infected meat and bone meal. The risk of BSE among sheep cannot therefore be dismissed.
The SSC recommends emergency measures to validate and introduce rapid testing on sheep and goats in order to determine whether they are infected by a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), either BSE or scrapie. The results of these tests would make it possible to collect essential data on the real incidence of TSE and its geographical repartition. It stresses that there is a dire need for such information. It believes it would be preferable to carry out rapid testing on lymphoid tissues, rather than on brain tissue, to reveal the infectiveness of sheep at an early stage in incubation. The tests are to be linked to genotypical analyses of the animals concerned, in order to determine the eventual genetic resistance of some categories of sheep to TSE. At the present time, it is the scientific view that there are not enough guarantees that some species of sheep with different genotypes resistant to scrapie are not healthy carriers of TSE. The combination of rapid screening and genotypical analyses would provide the scientific base allowing confirmation that the sheep genotypes resistant to scrapie do not carry TSE.
The certification of flocks free from scrapie and TSE, in correlation with better identification and better tracing of small ruminants, is, according to the SSC, the best strategic solution for determining the origin of sheep and goat products and for ensuring longer term consumer health. Nonetheless, scientists call for existing uncertainties to be lifted regarding the resistance of sheep to TSE before the introduction of programmes for the breeding of animals resistant to TSE in the Union.
Furthermore, the British government announced on Thursday that it was launching a new study on the possible presence of the mad cow diseases among sheep, after the fiasco of previous research erroneously carried out on bovine samples. Last week's revelation that scientists had worked for over four years on bovine samples, and not on sheep as they had thought, had plunged the government into deep embarrassment. According to the chief government scientific adviser, David King, scientists are to use a new technique to ascertain within 48 hours whether an animal has BSE. Professor King, however, admitted it would be necessary to wait "for months rather than weeks" before coming to any definitive conclusions.