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.
