March 9, 2005

 

Scotland may lift ban on OTM beef cattle

 

 

With the start of consultation on legal requirements for BSE testing and slaughterhouse trials for the new tests in Scotland, the possibility of removing the ban on older cattle for human consumption came closer.

 

The 30 months old cattle (OTM) ban started almost 9 years ago as part of the government's effort to eradicate BSE, the cattle brain disease linked to the fatal human condition variant CJD.

 

Although more than 8,500 cases of BSE have been confirmed in Scotland, more than 95 percent were detected before 2000, the epidemic peaked in Scotland with 2,200 clinical cases in 1993, and only three clinical cases, with a further 34 detected through testing, were reported last year.

 

The number of VCJD cases, thought to be linked to eating infected beef, is, so far, 154.

 

These factors, and others, convinced the Food Standards Agency - in spite of a handful of cattle born after the use of BSE-contaminated feed was banned in 1996 developing the disease - to recommend lifting the OTM ban almost two years ago although cattle born before 1 August 1996 will be permanently excluded. But for what farmers suspect have been reasons more political than scientific, progress has been slow.

 

Yesterday Ross Finnie, the minister for environment and rural development, said that protection of public health remained the priority for the Scottish Executive (and Westminster government).

 

That was why, he said, unwinding the OTM "slaughter and incinerate" scheme that has removed several million cattle, at a cost of about £4 billion in compensation, must be based on "a BSE testing system that is robust and approved by the Food Standards Agency".

 

He added: "The measures for consultation will help ensure that a regime can sustain public confidence and help reopen export markets."

 

NFU Scotland welcomed the announcement while emphasising that the timetable to end the ban remained extremely tight and that all future steps must be co-ordinated.

 

Isla Roebuck, president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, said: "This creates a framework capable of delivering the end of the OTM scheme by the September 2005 deadline already announced."

 

More than 1,000 farmers have so far applied to the national reserve for single farm payments.

 

But NFU Scotland believes that several thousand more are leaving a claim to the last minute and could miss next Monday's deadline.

 

Five of the eight categories, which will cover the vast majority of national reserve applications, close then, said the unions policy director, Scott Walker, but "time is running out".

 

He added: "Applications for the main categories must be in by Monday. It is their last chance to ensure that their single farm payment is fair, because once decided it will be set in stone for the years to come."