Scrapie

TOKYO, March 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH DETAILS OF MEETING)

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry decided Friday to expand its testing of sheep and goats for scrapie, a fatal, degenerative nerve disease, to animals aged 12 months and older from the current 18 months and older, ministry officials said.

The step is a part of government measures to prevent further cases of mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in Japan.

The ministry held a meeting of experts to discuss the possible danger to humans of scrapie in sheep and goats, which is similar to BSE in cows.

Based on the discussion, the ministry concluded it is necessary to tighten measures to prevent scrapie as part of efforts to prevent humans contracting BSE, which could develop variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD).

Scrapie has not been found to cause a similar disease in humans, the officials said, adding it is not clear either whether sheep or goats could contract BSE from cows.

The officials said the ministry decided to expand its testing of sheep and goats after receiving data showing scrapie could develop in sheep or goats younger than 18 months old.

The ministry is likely to declare a policy of requiring the incineration of sheep and goat parts in the near future, the officials said.

This practice of incinerating the carcasses of infected animals is prevalent in Europe, where cows slaughtered in BSE prevention moves were incinerated en masse to prevent humans contracting variant CJD, which is linked to mad cow disease.

Some parts of sheep and goats including small and large intestines and spleens, are to be removed and incinerated regardless of the animal's age, while other parts such as brains and spinal cords are also included the target for sheep and goats aged 12 months or older, according to the officials.

About 10,000 sheep and goats are processed for meat annually in Japan, compared with 1.3 million cows a year, according to the ministry.

After the first case of BSE in Japan was confirmed last September, the ministry revised a government ordinance last October requiring that brains and spinal cords of slaughtered cows be removed and incinerated.

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