WRITTEN QUESTION P-0052/01

by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(16 January 2001)

Subject: BSE and burial of cows in Mesia (Galicia)

The Commission already knows of the macabre discovery of a tip where the corpses of cows had been buried at the end of the year 2000, a story which was reported in the press all over Europe.

Responsibility for dumping the animals was quickly admitted by the regional authorities. The reasons given to consumers farmers and the general public by the politicians concerned raise questions about the decisions adopted by the EU Council of Ministers on 4 December, since it was maintained that the animals found at Mesias were not suspected of having mad cow disease and that the burials involved no risk and were carried out in strict compliance with the law.

In the light of the confusion among the general public generated by statements of this kind on matters of such great importance, will the Commission answer the following questions:

- Under Community legislation, is it compulsory to burn the corpses of cows which have died of natural causes and, if so, since when?

- Under the same legislation, is it compulsory to carry out a Prionic test on a cow which has died with no symptoms of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and, if so, since when?

- Under the same legislation, is it permissible to bury the corpse of a cow which has died of natural causes without first removing the parts of the animal which pose a danger? Which parts of the animal would this be exactly?

- Where animals are buried in accordance with Community legislation, what are the conditions which must be met by the sites chosen for this purpose?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2001)

According to Commission Decision 2000/418/EC of 29 June 2000 regulating the use of material presenting risks as regards transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and amending Decision 94/474/EC(1), since 1 October 2000, dead bovine animals from which specified risk material (i.e. skull including the brains and eyes, the tonsils, the spinal cord of animals aged over 12 months and the intestines from the duodenum to the rectum of animals of all ages) has not been removed, shall be completely destroyed by:

- incineration with or without pre-processing,

- co-incineration with pre-processing,

- burial in an approved landfill site after pre-processing at at least 133°C for 20 minutes and at 3 bars of pressure

Point 4 of Annex I to this Decision establishes that Member States may allow the burial in the circumstances set out in Article 3(2) of Council Directive 90/667/EEC of 27 November 1990 laying down the veterinary rules for the disposal and processing of animal waste, for its placing on the market and for the prevention of pathogens in feedstuffs of animal or fish origin and amending Directive 90/425/EEC(2) and by a method which precludes all risk of transmission of a TSE and is authorised and supervised by the competent authority.

The derogation established by Article 3(2) of Directive 90/667/EEC shall be considered as exceptional, and under no circumstances should they be considered as routine procedures for disposal of high-risk animal material.

According to Commission Decision 98/272/EC(3), as amended by Commission Decision 2000/764/EC of 29 November 2000 on the testing of bovine animals for the presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and amending Decision 98/272/EC on epidemio-surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies(4), animals which die on farms or in transport shall be examined for BSE at random. The minimum sample size is laid down in the above Decision. The initial examination shall be made with one of three rapid post mortem tests listed in the Decision and, where the test result is positive, the sample shall be submitted to confirmatory laboratory examination in accordance with recognised procedures.

(1) OJ L 158, 30.6.2000.

(2) OJ L 363, 27.12.1990.

(3) OJ L 122, 24.4.1998.

(4) OJ L 305, 6.12.2000.