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Mr. John Sykes (Scarborough): Are there not vast numbers of unreported cases of BSE-infected cattle in France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria? Does that not mean, therefore, that, not only is there probably as much danger in eating European beef, but it is much safer to eat British beef, especially from Yorkshire?
Mr. Riddick: Yes, especially from Yorkshire, as my hon. Friend, who is also from Yorkshire, says. He makes his own point. Many of us in the House have suspicions that the incidence of BSE is grossly unreported on the continent, but it is obviously difficult to make that stand up.
Bearing in mind that we want to regenerate trade in this country, there is an argument for refusing to import beef from EU countries that do not have the same specified bovine offal controls as us. Will the Minister consider that?
I would also have thought that there was a strong case for imposing a ban on the importation of any beef from cattle over 30 months old. I think that I am right in saying that, at the moment, some countries are exempt from the 30-month ban, and can export to this country. Most important, we want to stimulate sales of British beef in the home market, and in particular increase the throughput of below 30-month-old cattle. Such trade is still fairly sluggish, and farmers, as my hon. Friend the Minister will know only too well, are receiving much lower prices at auction than they were before the crisis began.
When I met an auctioneer from Cornwall a few weeks ago, he impressed on me the need to introduce deficiency payments to encourage farmers to take their beasts to market and help to reduce prices--thereby stimulating sales of British beef. I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) has been arguing for something similar. Such a system would encourage people to eat more beef, and would lead to fewer beasts being kept until they were 30 months old, then needlessly destroyed and wasted. I do not know whether the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has considered that, but if it has not, along with the European Commission, it should do so in detail.
When I spoke in the debate in May, I urged the Government to take swift action to get exemptions for the slower maturing breeds, and I am dismayed that there appears to have been no progress on that front.
I am glad of this opportunity to raise some of the issues concerned with the EU's worldwide ban on British beef exports. I hope that the European Commission will respond positively to the order that I have announced. If it does not, the Government will have to consider what action they can take to resume exports. Unilateral action may be necessary, but hopefully, it will not come to that.
Members of Parliament, and all those who have the interests of British farming at heart, should take every opportunity to reiterate that British beef is safe to eat. The link between BSE and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is not
proven. The incidence of CJD is no higher in this country than in any EU country. Indeed, it is lower than in many other countries.
Sir Donald Thompson (Calder Valley):
I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and my hon. Friends the Minister and the Member for Colne Valley (Mr. Riddick), for allowing me to speak. I shall make four points as briefly as I can, without being discourteous to those on whose behalf I make the points.
A farmer of mine, like many farmers in my constituency and the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley, is a rearer of stock, and is finding it very difficult to place stock for slaughter easily and quickly. His name is Andrew Naylor, and I shall write to my hon. Friend the Minister about his difficulties, because they are very complicated. We might be talking about a farmer having problems with only two, three, four or five animals, but the problem is widespread, and concerns many millions of animals across the country. It is very difficult for such farmers.
My hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley mentioned the South African veterinarians who have monitored BSE in this country, and found that everything we have done is satisfactory. I was distressed to see on the front page of yesterday's edition of The Times that, far from monitoring what we have done and disseminating information on the action taken on BSE in this country, the European Union seems to have deliberately--
Sir Donald Thompson:
It has not ignored that information, as my hon. Friend says, but has suppressed its dissemination not only to the Commission but to the European Parliament. It is therefore no wonder that, when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health made his announcement, the European Parliament and the Commission considered it a bombshell. In fact, the introduction to the statement was careful and gentle, and full information had been given, which should have instilled confidence in the European Parliament and the Commission over the years.
My hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley mentioned exports. When we think of exports, we always think of prime steak and the roast beef of old England, but there are two very important exports on which thousands of jobs in Britain depend. One is pet food. I say "jobs in Britain", because pet food is manufactured all over the United Kingdom, and takes 60 to 80 per cent. of the European market. British pet food in cans--beef--is now prohibited, as are hamburgers and beefburgers.
For a number of technical reasons with which I shall not bore the House, it transpires that, partly because meat from young bulls is not used, British beef is the best for making hamburgers and beefburgers. As the Minister knows, hamburgers and beefburgers from reputable companies are made of top-quality meat--first-class forequarters from young animals.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mrs. Angela Browning):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Mr. Riddick) on securing a debate on this important subject, and I have listened with great interest to the information that he has brought before the House.
The European Union ban introduced on 27 March on exports of all British beef and beef products, not only to other member states but to all third countries, was most unwelcome. More than that, it was completely unjustified--and in our view illegal, too. The ban affects a great many people in the United Kingdom. Beef farmers and many others in the industry, such as abattoir operators, transporters and meat exporters, have all found their trading opportunities greatly reduced. In many cases, that has had significant detrimental effects on their livelihoods.
In the United Kingdom, our highest priority with regard to BSE has always been the protection of public health, as my hon. Friends the Members for Colne Valley and for Calder Valley (Sir D. Thompson) have both carefully explained. That is why we have had in place in the public domain for many years stringent controls, especially controls on specified bovine offals, to protect the public from any possible risk of BSE.
Only now have other member states with significant amounts of BSE in their herds started to introduce similar measures to protect their own public, and most other member states still have no similar measures in place. I do not take that situation lightly, and I am vigorously pursuing with the Commission the reality of the situation in all member states.
Of course, the rules that apply to the production of meat for the domestic market apply equally to the production of meat for export. We have in place measures to protect British consumers, which also protect consumers in our export markets. I remind the House what the chairman of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has said as a result of the stringent controls that we have put in place:
The chairman's view has been echoed by independent international bodies, including the World Health Organisation, the International Animal Health Organisation and the OIE--and, indeed, the Commission's own Standing Veterinary Committee.
Thus, the export ban imposed on Britain by the EU cannot be justified on public health grounds. We already have in place the measures thought by all the experts to be necessary to protect public health from the risk of BSE, both here and in our export markets.
The Government have taken vigorous action to get the export ban lifted. First, we have challenged the ban before the European Court of Justice. Our application for interim relief, for immediate suspension of the ban or elements of it, has already been heard, and our case was presented most forcefully by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General. We expect to hear the results of the hearing shortly.
We have also taken a parallel approach, applying political and diplomatic pressure to have the ban lifted. In that complex technical area, it is most important that policy should go forward on an objective and scientifically justified basis. That is the basis for our domestic policy on BSE, and that is what we look for from the rest of Europe.
It was therefore most regrettable that, when the Commission put forward proposals to relax the ban on beef derivatives--proposals based clearly on advice from the Standing Veterinary Committee--they were rejected by some member states. That led to our reluctantly operating a policy of non co-operation until two specific objectives had been met--first, the lifting of the ban on beef derivatives, and secondly, the agreeing of a clear framework for the lifting of the wider ban.
"In any common usage of the word, British beef is safe."
I hope that that fulfils the desire of my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley that we should continue to say that, and to explain the situation at every opportunity.
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