Agriculture Ministers urge supervisory role for Commission
European Agriculture Ministers want the European Commission to monitor closely scientific developments with regard to TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) in small ruminants and propose action where necessary, it emerged at a Council meeting on 26 February. The Council also discussed whether the existing monitoring and control measures for scrapie are sufficient. Scientific experiments have shown that sheep can be infected orally with BSE. Ministers acknowledged the ongoing work within the Commission on the surveillance programme for scrapie, which is focusing on identification and traceability in sheep and goats and reinforcing the testing programmes for TSE in such animals. The Commission intends to speed up test developments so as to make it possible to distinguish between BSE and scrapie.
Countries
Sweden