The sheep industry was set on edge yesterday following an announcement by the department of the environment, food and rural affairs in London that tests had thrown up a new strain of scrapie, the fatal brain disease of sheep associated with BSE in cattle, and by implication, variant CJD in the human population.

However, senior officials with both Defra and the Scottish Executive's environment and rural affairs department were at pains to stress that the discovery is not linked to BSE and that there is no need for consumer concerns over food safety.

What is of major concern is that the government-funded Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, has confirmed that 83 "atypical" cases of scrapie have been found over the last three years in samples from 110,000 sheep brains tested.

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Source: The Herald, Dan Buglass
December 8, 2004

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