Gene database to combat BSE

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Thought the final paragraph from this " news " item, if it weren't so tragic,

bordered on the laughable given the UK Ministry of

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's blatant dishonesty which effectively

globalized the BSE epidemic.

A bit too late for government to be taking the high moral ground!!!

BUT, la luta continua, Lynette

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THE INDEPENDENT, London, October 12, 1998

Gene database to combat BSE

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

A genetic database of British cattle similar to the

DNA library of criminals is being considered by

the Government.

The plan is part of its anti-bovine spongiform

encephalopathy (BSE) scheme to trace the

movement of animals in the national herd, and

could result in inspectors being able to identify

which herd, or even individual cow, produced a

joint of meat on a supermarket shelf.

Discussions between officials at the Ministry of

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) and

scientists representing companies who carry out

DNA profiling on humans and animals have taken

place to prepare the groundwork for the scheme.

The cattle tracing scheme, which began at the end

of last month, uses ear tags to identify cattle but

there is concern that tags can be switched if

farmers or livestock dealers want to avoid the ban

on the sale of animals over 30 months old for

human consumption.

Scientists at the Laboratory of the Government

Chemist and its biotechnology subsidiary,

University Diagnostics, a company that has

pioneered the use of DNA profiling in criminal

cases, met Maff officials last week to discuss how

the scheme could be implemented.

" The computer tracing scheme tracks the cow

from sale to sale but I don't think there is anyone

who believes that ear tags are not corruptible, "

said Debenham, managing director of

University Diagnostics.

" DNA profiling is the ultimate proof of identity.

We could even trace meat on supermarket

shelves to see whether it's British or which herd it

has come from. "

Dr Debenham said that Maff officials have

expressed a keen interest in the plan. " They were

very positive and they'd obviously been thinking

about this in their own right for some time. "

It would cost an estimated £30m to take genetic

fingerprints of the 3 million calves born each year

but Dr Debenham said the final sum could be

reduced if a partial database was compiled using

stored blood samples that could be genetically

analysed only when a match is required.

, director of the British Cattle

Movement Service, acknowledged that ear tags

can be switched from one animal to another. " It's

possible to remove them. DNA would offer an

advantage, " he said.

Under the terms of the scheme farmers must

apply for cattle passports within 15 days of an

animal being tagged. Failure to do so can result in

a government restriction order on the movement

of cattle from a farm and a ban on further

passport applications.

The cattle passport is designed to keep track of

animals from the farm of birth to the

slaughterhouse but its accuracy relies on farmers

being honest about ear tagging.