French cattle to be screened for BSE

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7251.1692/e

BMJ 2000;320:1692 ( 24 June )

News extra

French cattle to be screened for BSE

Alexander Dorozynski Paris

The French government has launched a programme to screen the country's cows for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Some 48 000 tests will be carried out with the Swiss test kit "Prionics" on animals more than 2 years old either found dead for no known reason or after accidental death. If an animal is found to be infected, its herd will be destroyed and the animals incinerated.

About 40 000 of the tests will be carried out on brain samples collected in Brittany, lower Normandy, and along the Loire valley, the regions where 80% of known BSE cases in France are concentrated.

Another 8000 will be scattered throughout the rest of the country. Two other tests will be used to double check the results: the Irish "Enfer" test and a test designed by researchers at France's Department for Atomic Energy and marketed by the American . . . [Full text of this article]

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