Statement

- 20th March 1996

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The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee have considered 10 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) which have occurred in people aged under 42 and which have recently been identified by the CJD Surveillance Unit, Edinburgh. The Committee have concluded that the Unit has identified a previously unrecognised and consistent disease pattern. A review of patients' medical histories, genetic analysis to date and consideration of other possible causes, such as increased ascertainment, have failed to explain these cases adequately. Although there is no direct evidence of a link, on current data and in the absence of any credible alternative the most likely explanation at present is that these cases are linked to exposure to BSE before the introduction of the Specified Bovine Offal (SBO) ban in 1989. This is a cause for great concern.

CJD remains a rare disease and it is too early to predict how many further cases, if any, there will be of this new form. Continued surveillance is of the utmost importance and the Committee are actively seeking further data from both the UK and abroad to help assess the full significance of the Unit's findings.

The Committee emphasised that it is imperative that current measures to protect the public health are properly enforced and recommend constant supervision to ensure the complete removal of spinal cord.

The Committee also recommended:

1. that carcasses from cattle aged over 30 months must be deboned in licensed plants supervised by the Meat Hygiene Service and the trimmings must be classified as SBOs;
   
   
2. a prohibition on the use of mammalian meat and bonemeal (MBM) in feed for all farm animals;
   
   
3. that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP), in consultation with SEAC, should urgently review their advice in the light of these findings;
   
   
4. that the Committee urgently consider what further research is necessary.

The Committee does not consider that these findings lead it to revise its advice on the safety of milk. If the recommendations set out above are carried out the Committee concluded that the risk from eating beef is now likely to be extremely small.

 

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