Consultation on eradication of scrapie is published

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has today issued a public consultation on strategic options for the Northern Ireland Scrapie Plan (NISP).

The review is in response to the EU requirement to introduce a compulsory genotype-based breeding programme from 1 April 2005 to help eradicate the disease.

Scrapie is a fatal neurological disease found in sheep which has been present in the national flock for over 250 years - but it is not considered to be transmittable to humans.

The consultation provides an opportunity for stakeholders to help develop a sustainable strategy for the NISP, which best suits the varied and diverse sheep industry in Northern Ireland and, critically, one which delivers positive public and animal health benefits by reducing and eventually eradicating scrapie infection from the national sheep flock.

Under the proposals, all purebred flocks that sell homebred rams for further breeding, of which just over 50% are already participating in the voluntary NISP, will be subject to the rules of the compulsory breeding programme from next April.

There is a theoretical risk that BSE is present in sheep in the UK, and is being masked by scrapie, although it has not been found to be occurring naturally. The Northern Ireland Scrapie Plan (NISP) addresses the theoretical possibility of BSE being present in sheep.

(MB)