NR AUXQ
AU anonym
AK Editorial team (eurosurveillance.weekly@hpa.org.uk), Eurosurveillance editorial office
TI Changes to legislation designed to control TSEs discussed
QU Euro Surveillance : Bulletin Europeen sur les Maladies Transmissibles = European Communicable Disease Bulletin 2005 Sep 8; 10(9): E050908.3
IA http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2005/050908.asp#3
PT journal article
VT
A 'TSE roadmap' outlining possible future amendments to the controls designed to prevent transmissable spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) entering the food chain has been published by the European Commission [1]. The possibility of relaxing the regulations is a result of the decline in cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in humans.
The legislation in place for the control of TSEs in the European Union includes the following: a total feed ban on meat and bone meal in feed for any farmed animals since 2001; active surveillance of cattle implemented systematically since 2001, which has been extended to include sheep and goats; removal of specified risk material (SRM) (mainly central nervous system tissue) from ruminants over the age of 12 months since October 2000; animal by-product restrictions and culling measures following detection of a BSE case. Each measure will be reviewed, and if a quantative risk assessment is favourable, short term and long term amendments may be proposed.
Existing measures have resulted in a substantial drop in numbers of BSE cases across the European Union. In 2002, there were 2129 recorded BSE cases. This had dropped to 850 by 2004 [2]. The average age of positive BSE cases has risen, supporting the idea that BSE contamination occurred at a particular time period in the past.
The road map states that the age limit at which certain SRM are removed may be reviewed based on data from BSE surveillance, and surveillance could be scaled back and more targeted. It also suggests alternatives could be found in future for immediate slaughter of the whole cohort if one BSE case is found. The Commission has emphasised that changes to the regulations will only happen where there is substantial scientific evidence that it is safe to do so, under limited conditions, and if member states agree. A relaxation will free up resources for surveillance and control programmes for other potential health threats, for example, avian influenza.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE, http://www.oie.int) has reclassified countries as negligible BSE risk, controlled BSE risk, and undetermined BSE risk. European Union countries will be reclassified according to these definitions by July 2007 on the basis of a risk assessment and an active surveillance programme.
The area of the Commission website devoted to TSEs is at http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/bse/index_en.htm.
References:
1. The TSE Roadmap. COM(2005) 322 FINAL. Brussels: European Commission; 15 July 2005. (http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/bse/roadmap_en.pdf)
2. European Commission. Report on the monitoring and testing of ruminants for the presence of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) in the EU in 2004. June 2005, Luxembourg (http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/bse/annual_report_tse2004_en.pdf)
MH Agriculture; Animal Feed/*standards; Animals; Cattle; Communicable Disease Control/*legislation & jurisprudence; Disease Outbreaks/*legislation & jurisprudence/prevention & control; Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/*prevention & control/*transmission; European Union/*statistics & numerical data; Food Contamination/*prevention & control; Food Industry/legislation & jurisprudence; Guidelines; Humans; Population Surveillance
SP englisch
PO Frankreich