Health Scientific Committees Scientific Steering Committee (former MDSC) Outcome of discussions

Extract from the minutes of the meeting of 9-10 December 1999 of the Scientific Steering Committee

Following the publication of its opinion of 29 October 1999, the attention of the SSC was drawn to the risk assessment presented in section 3.3 « Epidemiology ». The SSC agreed that this section did not make it sufficiently clear that the presented estimates for maternal transmission related to the worst case of a pre-culling analysis of potential infectivity. The introduction of the dam survival rule means in reality that the UK-DBES eligible animals from which meat and meat products are obtained, would not include the animals born to dams showing clinical signs of BSE within six months of delivery. Under the UK-DBES, only authenticated data on a limited number of information bases are considered to be secure enough in terms of being verified and proving that the mother survived for six months after the birth of her calf. Any failure to confirm this survival results in rejection of the calf from the scheme. The original analysis presented a worst case scenario of possibly 1.3 infected animals (per 75.000) being eligible for export in 1998/99 (and less than 1 animal in subsequent years, even if exports increase substantially) if the dam survival rule was not applied. Therefore, the risk in terms of potentially maternally infected animals being exported under the DBES is lower than it may appear from a first reading of the opinion of 29.10.99. This re-affirms the SSC opinion.

[ ©] - [ HEALTH] - [ SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES] - [ SCIENTIFIC STEERING COMMITTEE] - [ OUTCOME OF DISCUSSIONS]