Parece que por fin se empieza a ver la luz....

Mi comentario: no si al final, esto de las crisis no va a ser tan malo. De momento esta poniendo control a esta majaderia de las vacas locas o para los tecnicos, encefalopatia espongiforme bovina, he dicho!!!

£388m spent to trace 174 BSE cases
Call for debate on controls amid claims that testing regime is costing too much
By Joe Watson

Published: 28/06/2008

A top European academic has called for a new debate on BSE controls amid claims the current testing regime is costing too much.

The plea from Professor Patrick Wall, of University College Dublin, comes as new figures show EU member states last year spent an estimated £388million to trace 174 BSE cases in the 9,718,072 cattle processed through abattoirs. Each positive case from the mandatory testing regime of all carcases from cattle aged more than 30 months cost taxpayers the equivalent of £1.764million.

Prof Wall, who is chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, said his personal view was that the time had come for a new discussion on different ways of securing the same level of public safety. He told the Press and Journal: “These costs are an elephant in the room. If I had these millions of euros to spend on a health initiative I wouldn't be spending on testing bovines (cattle) under 42 months for BSE and incinerating meat and bone meal when the NHS is crying out for resources in a range of areas.

“We should at least be telling the public what we are doing with their taxes. If they truly realised the inefficiency they would revolt."

Prof Wall said the challenge for public health experts would be in convincing the public that in asking to change the food safety controls governing BSE they were not in any way compromising standards just to make it easier for the beef industry to operate.

He added: “We are not consistent in how we address risks in society at large, and in the food chain, with equivalent risks not receiving equivalent amounts of regulatory attention.

“Also we do not prioritise how we spend the resources assigned to consumer protection from risks associated with food to ensure we get the maximum health gain."

Prof Wall believed there was a case for mandatory BSE testing in cattle to move to animals aged more than 42 months as none under that age had been found to be infected with the brain-wasting disease in the last two years.

He also suggested the need for a discussion on lifting restrictions on feeding porcine and avian meat and bone meal to pigs and chickens, saying it could provide cheaper alternatives to soaring grain prices.

Prof Wall said with consumer confidence fragile it was essential that any debate was properly informed and did nothing to damage the meat sector.

The European Commission said it has recently adopted procedures that could lead to a review in the BSE monitoring regime for cattle.

But a spokeswoman declined to give a date on when this might happen, only suggesting movement in the “short to medium term”.

The European Food Safety Authority is next month due to publish a scientific opinion on what, if any, risks there might be from increasing the age limit for cattle to be compulsorily brain tested for BSE.