That this House is opposed to the Calf Processing Aid Scheme, under which around ??80 is paid for each male dairy calf and around ??100 for each male beef calf which is slaughtered when it is less than 21 days old; notes that this scheme has nothing to do with eradicating BSE; further notes that the scheme does not permit the meat from the calves to be used for food as the scheme's sole purpose is to remove so-called surplus calves from the market; believes it is ethically unacceptable for newly-born calves to be slaughtered en masse when they have known almost no life at all; notes that over 950,000 calves have been slaughtered since this scheme was established in April 1996; is concerned that many calves have been transported on long journeys to distant slaughterhouses rather than being sent to a slaughterhouse near the farm of birth; believes that bull calves should neither be slaughtered under this scheme nor exported for rearing in continental veal crates but should instead be reared in the United Kingdom to supply the lower end of the beef market hitherto filled by the older cull cows whose meat is now excluded from the food chain; and urges Her Majesty's Government to abandon the calf slaughter scheme as it involves treating calves as unwanted waste products rather than as sentient beings capable of feeling pain and fear.

That this House is opposed to the Calf Processing Aid Scheme, under which around ??80 is paid for each male dairy calf and around ??100 for each male beef calf which is slaughtered when it is less than 21 days old; notes that this scheme has nothing to do with...

That this House is extremely concerned that a mere 3.8 per cent of the 1,139,799 cattle slaughtered under the over 30 month scheme have been disposed of by high temperature incineration; notes that a quarter of a million carcasses are still in cold storage and that the meat and bone meal rendered from 848,798 cattle is still in 11 warehouses, that storage costs are over a quarter of a million pounds per week, that at this incineration rate the process could take years; notes with concern that 30,000 tonnes of beef and 9,000 tones of products such as beef burgers have been landfilled; recognises that the official Government view, backed by European Commission Regulations 716/96 and 1484/96, is that the only safe way of disposing of potentially infected material is by high temperature incineration; believes that dither and mismanagement has led to this disgraceful situation which will be exacerbated by any further cull; and calls for the Government to make a statement to the House on the disposal of BSE-related waste at the earliest opportunity.

That this House is extremely concerned that a mere 3.8 per cent of the 1,139,799 cattle slaughtered under the over 30 month scheme have been disposed of by high temperature incineration; notes that a quarter of a million carcasses are still in cold storage and that the meat and bone...

That this House, whilst welcoming the recent decision of Mr Justice Morland in the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease litigation, nevertheless notes with concern that it was necessary for this forensic judicial inquiry to take place because of the failure of the Secretary of State for Health to order a public inquiry akin to that undertaken by the Allars Inquiry between May 1993 and June 1994 in Australia and that such a judicial inquiry into the shortcomings of the working of a branch of the Scientific Civil Service was necessitated by the absence of independent scrutiny by any Government or other watchdog of safety standards and risk management in that service; deplores the fact that such scrutiny by litigation will become rare, if not impossible in future because of changes to legal aid eligibility and cost rules set out by the Lord Chancellor's recent White Paper on The Future of Legal Aid in England and Wales; further notes that the judicial inquiry has left some of the plaintiffs without compensation for loss of loved ones at a time when the Government has promised ex gratia payments of 2.5 billion pounds to dairy farmers for the loss of their cattle from the equivalent bovine disease, BSE; and call upon the Government to make payment of an appropriate sum of compensation to all of thoe who have lost loved ones to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease following a growth hormone treatment before 1985.

That this House, whilst welcoming the recent decision of Mr Justice Morland in the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease litigation, nevertheless notes with concern that it was necessary for this forensic judicial inquiry to take place because of the failure of the Secretary of State for Health to order a public inquiry akin...

That this House notes with interest and concern the findings of the joint Observer/World in Action investigation into the relationship between Mr John Whitefield, the honourable Member for Dewsbury from 1983 to 1987, and Prosper De Mulder, the rendering company whose products are believed to have been a major source of BSE in cattle; notes that during his time in the House Mr Whitfield acted as the company's solicitor and arranged lobbying meetings on their behalf with Government Ministers geared to persuading the Government not to abandon the use of meat and bone products in animal feeds and that the Dewsbury Conservative Association received a donation of ??1,000 from Prosper De Mulder in 1992 at a time when Mr Whitfield was seeking re-election as that constituency's honourable Member, calls upon the company to make public all its donations to, and connnections with the Conservative party; and calls upon the Law Society to investigate whether Mr Whitfield's lobbying activities were consistent with their procedures governing proper professional practice; and calls upon the Minister of Agricutlure, Fisheries and Food to place in the Library c opies of any correspondence of minutes of any meetings between Mr Whitfield or Prosper De Mulder and the Government.

That this House notes with interest and concern the findings of the joint Observer/World in Action investigation into the relationship between Mr John Whitefield, the honourable Member for Dewsbury from 1983 to 1987, and Prosper De Mulder, the rendering company whose products are believed to have been a major source...

That this House notes that there are many beef farmers across the United Kingdom who have never had an animal in their herds infected with BSE; recognises that many farmers have raised their cattle by traditional methods or organically; and expresses its full confidence in beef produced by such farmers.

That this House notes that there are many beef farmers across the United Kingdom who have never had an animal in their herds infected with BSE; recognises that many farmers have raised their cattle by traditional methods or organically; and expresses its full confidence in beef produced by such farmers.

That this House is reminded of the response of the Committee of the Food Safety Bill on 19th March 1990 by the then Agriculture Minister, the honourable Member for Penrith and The Border, on the risk that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) might jump species to cats due to infected offal in pet food, that 'I do not want to get into the position where I as a politician go into a crazy panic over pet food, when all the evidence is against there being any risk whatever of the disease jumping species to cats and dogs. I could ban the pet food for no good reason and scientists could a year later say I was wrong' and that policy on bovine spongiform encepthalopathy should not be based on the love of the honourable Member for Leyton for his cats; notes that parliamentary answer by the current Minister of Agriculture on 30th March, that her Department has been notified of 47 cases of feline spongiform encepthalopathy, even thought the disease is not a notifiable one, and that reported cases are at the rate of one a month; and considers that the failure to act by the honourable Member for Penrith and The Border when he had the opportunity to take this matter seriously was a lamentable error of judgement.

That this House is reminded of the response of the Committee of the Food Safety Bill on 19th March 1990 by the then Agriculture Minister, the honourable Member for Penrith and The Border, on the risk that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) might jump species to cats due to...

That this House condemns the relentless attack on British farmers and food-producers by professors who display symptoms akin to BSE; and calls on the Department of Health to investigate the mental state of Professor Lacey who, having helped to destroy the egg industry, is now turning his attention to beef.

That this House condemns the relentless attack on British farmers and food-producers by professors who display symptoms akin to BSE; and calls on the Department of Health to investigate the mental state of Professor Lacey who, having helped to destroy the egg industry, is now turning his attention to beef.

That this House notes the exchange in the committee on the Food Safety Bill on 29th March, between the honourable Member for Leyton and the Agriculture Minister, the honourable Member for Penrith and the Border, in which the former said, at column 123, 'I feed my cats every day; no doubt the cat food contains a lot of offal and much of that might well be infected.' and called for a straight answer from the Minister on whether that was so; and that the Minister replied, at column 125, 'I do not want to get into the position where I as a politician go into a crazy panic over pet food, when all the evidence is against there being any risk whatever of the disease jumping species to cats and dogs. I could ban the pet food for no good reason and the scientists could a year later say I was wrong' and stated that policy on a serious issue such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy should not be based on the love of the honourable Member for Leyton for his cat; notes the reports of 10th May of the cat in Bristol with the species equivalent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and calls for immediate action to ban any potential infected offal or meat from pet food or, failing that, that the Minister considers his position and resigns.

That this House notes the exchange in the committee on the Food Safety Bill on 29th March, between the honourable Member for Leyton and the Agriculture Minister, the honourable Member for Penrith and the Border, in which the former said, at column 123, 'I feed my cats every day; no...