Volume 3: The Early Years, 1986-88
6. Notification of the ruminant feed ban to other countries
Discussion

6.61 In its Report of 7 February 1997 into BSE, the European Parliament Temporary Committee of Inquiry criticised the UK Government for failure to take action to control exports of MBM. Export figures of MBM to the European Union supplied by MAFF were quoted as 12,553 tonnes in 1988, 25,005 tonnes in 1989, 10,072 tonnes in 1990, 2,720 tonnes in 1991, 1,492 tonnes in 1992, 2,226 tonnes in 1993 and 2,343 tonnes in 1994. The European Parliament Temporary Committee of Inquiry found that this constituted a 'serious failure to observe the principle of cooperation which should govern relations between all member states'. ¹

6.62 Dr Pickles in her statement to the Inquiry remarked that:

The export of MBM appeared to me to have the potential to lead to the spread of the disease overseas. Although Sir Richard Southwood was concerned, he was not prepared to raise this formally in his Working Party Report and so I reminded the CMO of the problem on several occasions and he took up the issue with the CVO . . . the export of MBM [was one of] the most significant areas where I advocated alternative courses of action to those adopted at the time. ²

6.63 We believe that the Government should have been anxious to ensure that the misfortune that we were suffering in the United Kingdom was not shared by our neighbours. Mr Gummer expressed this sentiment in terms of a moral duty.

6.64 The evidence suggests to us that the only reliable way of protecting foreign countries from the risk of the incorporation of British MBM in their cattle feed would have been to prohibit its export. As Mr David Goldwater of GAFTA informed us, MBM was exported initially to Europe to manufacturers of concentrates, who re-exported their products to the Middle East or North Africa. The British exporter would have no knowledge or interest in the ultimate destination or use of the material. Conversely, so it seems to us, the end-user would be unlikely to be aware that the product included ruminant protein produced by UK renderers.

6.65 There is no evidence that any Minister or official in MAFF contemplated imposing a ban on the export of MBM. Our duty to our neighbours was not considered to go as far as to seek to prevent the sale abroad of that which could still lawfully be sold in this country and used for feeding to pigs and poultry. Had MAFF officials considered such a ban, we have little doubt that they would have been advised by their lawyers that it would be open to legal challenge. The British seller could argue cogently that, provided the immediate purchaser was aware that the MBM was not suitable for feeding to ruminants, there was no legitimate reason for prohibiting UK exports. It should be up to the purchaser to ensure that the MBM was not used for incorporation in ruminant feed.

6.66 Did the United Kingdom give timely and adequate warning of the danger that British MBM posed if incorporated in ruminant feed? We raised this question with Mr Meldrum and with other witnesses. The EU countries had been informed of the ruminant feed ban when it was introduced, but what of the rest of the world? Mr Meldrum's answer was that the usual means were adopted of bringing the danger of MBM to the notice of foreign authorities and that these means were not merely reasonable - they were the best means of communication. Use was made of the Office International des Epizooties as one means of communication. At its annual General Session in May 1989 Mr Meldrum provided member countries with an update on BSE, including the information that ruminant MBM was suspected to be the cause of the disease and had been banned as an ingredient in ruminant feed. This information was included in the final report, circulated to all members, of the General Session in three languages. In addition, Mr Meldrum relied upon a number of articles in the Veterinary Record - a journal with a wide international circulation - which drew attention to MBM as the suspected cause of BSE.

6.67 Mr Meldrum told us that he had not found that attempts at individual correspondence with his foreign colleagues provided a reliable means of conveying information. Indeed, he had discovered that sometimes such correspondence did not reach its destination, was only read by junior officials, or was not understood by foreign colleagues. He did, however, as instructed by Mr Gummer, write individually on 14 February 1990 to the Chief Veterinary Officers of all non-EU countries known to import MBM from the United Kingdom.

6.68 There is an inconsistency between Mr Meldrum's contention that he adopted the most effective way of bringing to the attention of foreign countries the dangers of ruminant protein in UK meat and bone meal and his statement to Mr Gummer that, if he were to write to third countries about the ruminant feed ban, this would cause them to cease purchasing British exports of MBM. We are in no doubt that, had he wished to, Mr Meldrum could have taken action more promptly and more decisively than he did to warn foreign countries that British MBM was potentially lethal if incorporated in cattle feed. Letters to that effect to all Chief Veterinary Officers around the world would have been likely to make an impact, and we do not believe that it was necessary to wait for the annual General Session of the OIE before seeking to use that organisation as a medium of communication.

6.69 At the end of the day, however, it seems to us that the question of whether Mr Meldrum did all that he reasonably could to warn third countries of the danger of MBM is academic. At the interdepartmental meeting on 3 November 1989 MAFF is recorded as stating baldly that countries continuing to import UK ruminant protein used such material only for pig and poultry feed. ³ We are not sure on what basis this statement was made, but it seems likely that, with one exception, countries to which MBM was re-exported from Europe used it for those purposes. No feed-borne cases of BSE have been reported from any of them, with the exception of Switzerland. BSE in Switzerland is, it seems, suspected of having been introduced in MBM purchased from the UK by Belgium and re-exported to Switzerland. We are not aware whether this was before or after the introduction of the ruminant feed ban. If it was after, then on the evidence we have, both Belgium and Switzerland were aware that ruminant protein was suspected to be the cause of BSE. ⁴

6.70 In the light of these considerations, we do not consider that any criticism falls to be made either of the continued export of MBM or of the manner in which importing countries were warned of the danger that it posed to ruminants.