This article is from page 78 of the 2008-09-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 78 JPG
IT MAY not be the all out lifting of restrictions that farms had sought, but the farming organisations have given a measured welcome to the an- nouncement last week that the age limit for BSE testing was being risen once again.
The decision was welcomed by the ICSA, who had earlier last week branded the 30 month threshold for BSE testing a “scandalous rip-off”.
Following the announcement by Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, that the EU Commission had agreed to raise the minimum age for
BSE testing from 30 months to 48 months, ICSA president Malcolm Thompson pointed out that BSE test- ing was still costing Irish farmers €20 million per annum.
“T welcome the news that the EU Commissioner for Public Health, Androulla Vassiliou has recognised the sense of what ICSA has been say- ing for some time,” he said.
“Over 8 million tests were car- ried out in Europe last year, some $25,000 of which were carried out in Ireland, and the incredibly low number of cases found show that this was a complete and utter waste of farmers’ money. So far in 2008, we
have just 12 cases of BSE, and these cases are easily dealt without having recourse to the compulsory testing of over 800,000 animals.
“Older cows will continue to be checked, and it is our belief that this will become unnecessary over the next few years.”
The decision was welcomed by IFA National Livestock Commit- tee Chairman, Michael Doran, who said that it would remove prime cat- tle from the testing requirement and abolish the unnecessary ۩20 per head costs. The decision was also welcomed by Clare TD and Minister of State at the Department of Agri-
culture, Tony Killeen, who said that an increase of the minimum age for testing to 48 months would deliver significant savings to farmers.
“The current testing requirements are unjustified when one considers the significant progress made in re- ducing the incidence of the disease in Ireland, from a high of 333 cases in 2003 to 25 last year and 12 to date in 2008,” he said.
“Tam confident, based on the reduc- tion in the disease in Ireland and the extensive controls in place, that Ire- land’s application will be approved and that the new testing regime may even be in place from early 2009.”