AGRICULTURE Minister Timis Efthymiou insisted yesterday there was no link between scrapie and mad cow disease, after data issued the European Food Safety Authority said eight Cypriot goats had tested positive for the disease.
The data showed that 12 samples of Transmitted Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE or scrapie) were discovered in goats in Greece, eight in Cyprus and 26 in France out of some 17,294 goats tested throughout the EU in 2004.
The figures were made public by Greek Left Coalition Synaspismos MEP Dimitris Papadopoulos.
The EU bans the use of milk and meat from herds affected by a TSE case.
Efthymiou yesterday issued a statement saying there was no link between TSE and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease.
Efthymiou was critical of Papadopoulos, arguing that his comments failed to make clear the distinction and were liable to spread fear and confusion in the eyes of the consumer.
Efthymiou said that while scrapie was a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats, it could not be transmitted to humans.
“Scrapie was first diagnosed in Cyprus back in 1985 by the authorities. Since then the Veterinary Services have put a nationwide programme into action aimed at getting get rid of the disease and protecting animals.”
Efthymiou added that scrapie was not an uncommon disease, especially in counties where goat herding or breeding was popular.
According to the European Commission Food and Feed Safety Website, TSEs are a family of diseases occurring in man and animals that are characterised by a degeneration of brain tissue giving a sponge-like appearance. The family includes diseases such as Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and scrapie in sheep and goats.
While BSE has only recently been identified, scrapie has been known for centuries and on the basis of the available data is not considered to be transmissible to humans nor to pose a risk to man. However, as a precautionary measure, EU legislation in place to prevent the spread and transmission of BSE applies also to sheep and to goats.
Rigorous and extensive legislation has been adopted at EU level to prevent the spread and transmission of BSE among cattle. Many of these measures are also applied to goats and sheep, as additional safety measure. The most important are:
n the ban on feeding mammalian meat and bone meal (MBM) to ruminants since 1994, reinforced by a total ban on feeding MBM to any farm animal in Jan 2001. MBM from infected animals is thought to be the transmission route of BSE.
n Animal waste derived from sheep and goats must be disposed of using the same standards (heat treatment) applied to other animal waste.
n As of October 2000, removal of specified risk material (SRM) such as the spleen, skull, tonsils, spinal cord and ileum.
n Mechanically recovered meat cannot be produced from sheep and goat bones.
n Measures to ensure that imported meat and meat products also respect relevant EU provisions (e.g. SRM removal).
n Scrapie-infected sheep and goats are excluded from the food and feed chain.
n Eradication measures within the flocks where a positive TSE case has been confirmed
