---

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Regulations

I should be very surprised if the company were not as keen as most companies are to get its tests validated as soon as possible. It is in its interest to do that, but that does not necessarily mean that it will happen. I think that I am right in saying that, if the test is validated, that will be the first available live BSE test. There has not been one until now, and it is not a matter that is always straightforward. We shall of course keep the matter under review, but if the hon. Gentleman looks into the issue, he will, I think, find that several stages would remain to be undergone before a live BSE test was accepted. It would have to be accepted as a validated test EU-wide before we could use it as an alternative to our current BSE controls. For the moment, the EU TSE regulation requires the culling of cohorts as soon as possible. We have a legal obligation. Our BSE controls will be subject to yet another EU veterinary inspection shortly, and any shortcomings that are found could undermine confidence in our beef exports. It has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice to get on top of the scourge of BSE. We are finally winning that battle. Our domestic over-30- months rule was replaced with a robust testing system in November last year, since when more than 330,000 cattle that would have been incinerated have instead been sold for human consumption. Since the export ban was lifted in May, beef exports have been steadily building, and they are currently running at 1,000 tonnes a week, valued at about £1.5 million. The beef price has risen by about 20 per cent. in just 12 months. Those significant achievements have benefited beef farmers in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and elsewhere, and we have achieved them through sound science, proper risk assessment and rigorously enforced BSE controls. All that could be put at risk if our domestic or EU food safety authorities believed that we were acting illegally on BSE. I shall look again at the correspondence that, Harriet’s owner suggests, shows she did not share the same feed as a BSE case. However, if, when the Government reach a firm and final decision, the Price family disagree, they can, as I have said, challenge it in the courts. However, I hope that both they and the hon. Gentleman will recognise that any Government’s priority must be to protect public health and to promote confidence in our beef industry.