WRITTEN QUESTION E-3885/00 by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE), Minerva Malliori (PSE) and Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Council. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease).
Date: 2000-12-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, animal feedingstuffs, plant breeding, vegetable protein

C 174 E/172

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

subsequently exported to the Portuguese Azores had been diagnosed as suffering from BSE. According to
information from the Ministry of Agriculture in Portugal, the animal, which was born in September 1995,
had been shipped to the island of Sao Miguel in 1998. It was slaughtered on 2 October 2000. Pursuant to
the European legislation requiring notification of cases of BSE,
the case should have been notified
immediately to the European and German authorities.

1. When and by whom was the Commission notified of this case of BSE?

2. Was the infected animal, which originated in Germany, entered in both the Portuguese and German
BSE statistics?

3. When were the German authorities informed of this case by the Portuguese Government?

4.
As a result of this case of BSE, 2800 cattle were slaughtered on the Azores. Have any claims for
compensation been submitted to the German Government or to the agricultural supplier of the infected
animal?

5.
Pursuant to the European legislation requiring notification of cases of BSE, farmers in the respective
countries should have been informed by the authorities. To what extent were farmers in Germany so
informed?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(1 February 2001)

The rules on notification of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases in the Community are laid
down in Council Directive 82/894/EEC of 21 December 1982 on the notification of animal diseases within
the Community (1), as last amended by Commission Decision 2000/556/EC of 27 September 2000 (2).
According to those rules each Member State shall notify directly the Commission, at least on the first
working day of each week, of all BSE cases confirmed on its territory. The notifications are made by a
computerized system and are simultaneously distributed to the veterinary authorities in all Member States.

The BSE case recently detected in the Azores was confirmed in an animal which had been exported from
Germany in October 1998. The Portuguese authorities informed the Commission of this case by fax on
23 November 2000, the day after the diagnosis had been confirmed in their national reference laboratory.
The computerized report was received on 24 November 2000.

The case was entered into the Portuguese BSE statistics as an (cid:145)imported case(cid:146). As the exact limits of the
incubation period for BSE are not known, BSE cases in animals imported from other countries are
normally not entered into the BSE statistics of the exporting country. Such information has, however, been
taken into account in the assessment of geographical BSE risk carried out by the Scientific Steering
Committee, which advises the Commission on BSE related matters.

The Honourable Member must refer to the relevant national authorities to secure the information
requested in part 4 and 5 of the question.

(1) OJ L 378, 31.12.1982.
(2) OJ L 235, 19.9.2000.

(2001/C 174 E/181)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3885/00

by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE), Minerva Malliori (PSE)
and Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease)

The spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease) has put the issue of the quality and composition
of cattle feedingstuffs in the European Union back on the top of the agenda. The gradual shift in the
ingredients of animal feedingstuffs away from plants to animal products has resulted in the present

19.6.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/173

situation in which the health of the peoples of Europe is at risk. Despite the major vested interests of the
animal feedingstuff industry, it is still possible to change the composition of the feed of cattle bred in the
European Union.

Will the Council consider subsidising the cultivation of plant varieties to gradually replace the animal
feedingstuffs produced today which are responsible for these problems?

Reply

(12 March 2001)

in the conclusions of its 2 317th meeting (4 December 2000), subject to the financial
The Council,
perspective agreed in Berlin,
(cid:145)notes the statements by the Commission concerning the production of
protein-rich plants and calls upon it speedily to analyse the issue in greater detail and to draw its
consequences for the policy currently being pursued in this sector and for set-aside,
including any
appropriate proposals(cid:146).

The Council will take a decision on these proposals when it receives them.

(2001/C 174 E/182)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3886/00

by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE), Minerva Malliori (PSE)
and Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease)

The spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (mad cow disease) has put the issue of the quality and composition
of cattle feedingstuffs in the European Union back on the top of the agenda. The gradual shift in the
ingredients of animal feedingstuffs away from plants to animal products has resulted in the present
situation in which the health of the peoples of Europe is at risk. Despite the major vested interests of the
animal feedingstuff industry, it is still possible to change the composition of the feed of cattle bred in the
European Union.

Will the Commission consider subsidising the cultivation of plant varieties to gradually replace the animal
feedingstuffs produced today which are responsible for these problems?

(2001/C 174 E/183)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4076/00

by Dominique Souchet (UEN) to the Commission

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Developing the production of fodder protein in response to the recent ban on the use of meat

meal

The ban on the use of animal meal for farm animal fodder will increase the Community(cid:146)s vegetable protein
needs and a response is needed that will not increase dependence on imports or exposure to GMO.

Will the Commission introduce an emergency programme to develop Community production of vegetable
protein based on the following main points:

1. An increase in per hectare payments for protein crops such as peas, horse beans and lupins, which are

not subject to international restrictions, would be of vital importance;