Scientists report on geographical risk of BSE
'In all countries where BSE is already found (the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Switzerland and Denmark), the geographical BSE risk has tended to stabilise or decrease since 1994 or 1996.' So says the EU's scientific steering committee (SSC) in its final conclusions on the geographical risk of BSE, which is now publicly available. In addition, the committee believes that BSE is also likely to be present at levels below the detection limits for their surveillance systems in Italy, Spain and Germany and unlikely, but not excluded, in Austria, Finland and Sweden. And, with the exception of Switzerland, actual cases of BSE have not been discovered in any of the nine third countries that have been assessed so far. The analysis took into account detailed assessment reports on the geographical risk of BSE from 23 countries, which were applied to a qualitative model developed by the steering committee. The SSC also looked at the geographical distribution of BSE outside of Europe and concludes that it is 'highly unlikely' that BSE could be present in Australia, Chile, Norway, New Zealand, Argentina and Paraguay. It also considers it 'unlikely' that BSE is present in the USA and Canada, although it cannot be excluded. The geographical risk of BSE is a qualitative indicator of the risk that live cattle could be infected with the BSE agent, but it is not an indicator of risk to humans.