WRITTEN QUESTION E-0091/01 by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission. BSE: large-scale dumping of carcasses and fodder in Mesía (Galicia, Spain).
Date: 2001-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Galicia, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, carcase, cereal substitute, unauthorised dumping, veterinary legislation, waste management

C 187 E/178

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

(2001/C 187 E/190)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0090/01

by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: Cofinancing of anti-BSE measures

The decisions adopted by the EU Council of Ministers under the plan to eradicate BSE and fight its spread
to humans are being applied by the fifteen Member States with varying degrees of effectiveness. Some of
these measures, such as the transportation of carcasses and the destruction of at-risk material, are leading
in a number of Spanish regions, given the repercussions of the costs on stockbreeders, to the further
impoverishment of an already disadvantaged sector: farming is essentially based on the family model, while
the national and regional governments appear unable to meet the costs of implementing the Union(cid:146)s
measures.

Does the Commission intend to provide extraordinary funding with a view to the cofinancing of measures
such as incineration, transportation, testing (analysis and acquisition) and construction or equipment of
reference laboratories and incinerators, so as to ensure that these costs do not have direct repercussions (cid:129)
as is already happening in some cases (cid:129) on the stockbreeders themselves and that the measures are
properly implemented and succeed in restoring a climate of confidence among European consumers?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(21 March 2001)

The Commission is already cofinancing a significant percentage of the cost of this crisis, for example via
a specific purchase scheme introduced by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2777/2000 of 18 December
2000 adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market (1), by funding the purchase of rapid
diagnostic tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and by applying the public intervention
regime to the common organisation of the market in beef and veal.

The financial impact of this series of measures is currently estimated at almost € 1 billion.

As part of an initial supplementary and amending budget for 2001, the Commission has asked the
budgetary authority to release the sums placed in reserve (€ 60 million) for the funding of further testing.

Current budgetary and legal circumstances do not allow the Commission to become involved in funding
new measures such as incineration or the transportation of carcasses.

(1) OJ L 321, 19.12.2000.

(2001/C 187 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0091/01

by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: BSE: large-scale dumping of carcasses and fodder in Mes(cid:237)a (Galicia, Spain)

The recently-discovered, open and visible dumping of cattle carcasses in Galicia has brought about a general
collapse of consumer confidence in the measures adopted at EU level to combat BSE, and also relates to
the even more disturbing phenomenon of the further impoverishment of the already disadvantaged
stockbreeding sector: in Galicia, almost all farming is family-based, and the sector is not prepared for the
grave crisis produced by the appearance of BSE-infected livestock.

The only treatment given to the carcasses dumped has been the administration of quicklime. This act of
dumping was, furthermore, preceded by the dumping of over 50 tonnes of fodder of animal origin.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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The statements made by those responsible for these acts of dumping give reason to believe that they have
acted in accordance with the Community rules.

In view of the above, can the Commission state whether any rules exist at European level on the treatment
to be administered to feedingstuffs containing animal residues with a view to their elimination? Can the
Commission state whether the same rules indicate how such feedingstuffs are to be eliminated, and, if so,
provide details?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(14 March 2001)

According to 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 (1) animal carcasses
must be processed in an approved plant under official veterinary surveillance. In exceptional circum-
stances, they may be disposed of by burning or burial.

From 1 April 1997, Council Decision 1999/534/EC, of 19 July 1999 on measures applying to the
processing of certain animal waste to protect against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and
amending Commission Decision 97/735/EC (2) requires that all mammalian animal waste must be
processed in accordance with certain minimum parameters which are regarded as being the most effective
standards for the inactivation of the agents of scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Member States may authorise the processing of this animal waste by a method which does not meet these
standards if the resulting processed material is destroyed by burial, incineration, burning as fuel or a similar
method which ensures safe disposal.

The additional requirements established by Community legislation on disposal of animal material present-
ing a BSE risk have been provided to the Honourable Member in replying to her Written Question
P-0052/01 (3).

(1) OJ L 363, 27.12.1990, p. 51. Directive as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.
(2) OJ L 204, 4.8.1999.
(3) OJ C 174 E, 19.6.2001, p. 247.

(2001/C 187 E/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0092/01

by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: BSE: measures to be adopted by the Member States

(29 January 2001)

On 4 December 2000 the EU Council of Ministers adopted a set of decisions related to BSE, including
screening tests for cattle aged over 30 months and a temporary ban on animal meal in the fifteen Member
States.

All the Member States have started the procedures for implementing these decisions, but as things stand
there are major variations in the extent to which they have implemented them and the resources made
available for that purpose. In France, the government is adopting measures which would not actually have
been considered mandatory until 1 July 2001, including the equipment of 26 reference laboratories (to
join the 13 that already exist) and the operation of tests at a rate of 100 000 per week. The contrast
between this situation and that in other Member States, such as Italy, which has already admitted that it
lacks the capacity to handle the problem, and Spain, which has only one reference laboratory and cannot
match test capacity to demand, is creating a state of confusion, both among European consumers and in
the industry itself, in the face of the variations in the action taken by different national (cid:129) and even
regional (cid:129) governments.