Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 82


     
     1        A.  Yes.  It is one of the interesting things about this
     2        whole business of intensive agriculture in Britain, which
     3        unfortunately has led to this BSE crisis, is the
     4        intensification of animal feeding in Britain which was
     5        directly responsible for that, which is far less practised
     6        in France.  In France you will see animals with their
     7        calves suckling their mothers in the fields, in grass.  In
     8        Britain it is a seldom sight in the countryside to see
     9        that.   A lot of the farmers actually use artificial milk
    10        to feed their calves on in the intensive reared
    11        situations.  That is the bulk of the meat that goes into
    12        the British bread basket.  There is a substantial
    13        difference in the way the French rear their animals and the
    14        way they butcher it compared to Britain.
    15
    16   Q.   I have to ask you if you have any hard data to support
    17        that.  If we are going to swop anecdotal experiences I
    18        would ask you to describe to the court what the
    19        countryside--?
    20        A.  I think I can get you some hard data on the differences
    21        in--
    22
    23   Q.   May be?
    24        A.   If the prevalence of Bovine Spongiform
    25        Ecephalomyelopathy is not enough to illustrate the
    26        difference between animal husbandry in Britain and the rest
    27        of Europe.  I think I could find from the Meat and
    28        Livestock Commission data which supports this contention.
    29
    30   Q.   That assumes, with the greatest possible respect, that it
    31        has not made an appearance on the continent does it not?
    32        A.   Not at all.  It assumes that there is a big difference
    33        between what happens in Britain and what happens on the
    34        continent.  There have been the odd cases, as I am sure you
    35        well know, on the continent.
    36
    37   Q.   Have you travelled extensively in the north-east of your
    38        native land, Scotland?
    39        A.  Yes, I have indeed, and that is one of the most
    40        interesting aspects of it because some of the beef animals
    41        up in the north of Scotland are those that have been
    42        protected from BSE, and indeed in other parts of England
    43        and Wales as well and these are the animal that have been
    44        reared extensively much like the way in which the French
    45        do.
    46
    47   Q.   BSE is no part of this case, Professor Crawford, I expect
    48        you know?
    49        A.  No, no.
    50
    51   Q.   You know that do you not?
    52        A.  I know that, I am just using it as, you know, you asked
    53        for a concrete illustration as to the difference between
    54        animal husbandry in Britain and in France.
    55
    56   Q.   And what you are offering is your own anecdotal experience?
    57        A.   No, I am not.  I am offering you, Mr. Rampton, the
    58        contrast between the problem of BSE which is direct product
    59        of the behaviour of animal industry in Britain compared to
    60        the very low prevalence of it in France.

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