BRITISH veterinary scientists flew to Brussels yesterday to brief the Commission on the new scientific evidence of a possible link between BSE and Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease.
A Commission spokesman said it was seriously concerned by reports from Britain and that it would be urgently examining the evidence. The scientists will also report to the Commission's own scientific veterinary committee's public health section, scheduled to meet today, and to the independent standing veterinary committee on Monday.
The latter consists of scientists independent of the Commission and member states and any recommendations it makes will go to the Commission's own meeting next Wednesday. Until then, there was no question of changes in regulation.
The spokesman pointed out that since 1990 there had been a ban on selling beef offal or putting it into the food chain. EU rules also ban the export of unboned beef from herds that have not been free of BSE for six years or from animals more than 2 1/2 years old.
He said that the Commission had "erred on the side of caution", recognising that while scientific evidence did not support a link with CJD, it had also not disproved it. Until experts had examined the new British evidence thoroughly, the spokesman said, he could not categorically state that British beef was safe.
It was important to put the incidence of BSE - 12,000 British cases last year - in the context of 30 million animals slaughtered in the whole Union.
Asked about a Commission approach to the German government over an illegal ban by two Lander on British beef, and a French threat to ban it, the spokesman said that until changed, European law stood as enacted. There are concerns here, however, irrespective of the actions taken by member states, that consumers will react to the news by sharply cutting consumption.
