London - Jeff Almond, chairman of the sheep subcommittee of the government advisory group on mad cow disease - formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy - said there is a “a distinct possibility” that British sheep are infected. Research into whether sheep have been infected with mad cow disease is urgently needed, a top government adviser said.
The government would face the dilemma of risking public health or ordering the slaughter of 40 million sheep and causing the collapse of the industry, he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the National Farmers' Union insisted it is safe to eat lamb.
The European Union banned British beef exports in March 1996 after Britain announced a possible link between BSE and the fatal, brain-wasting Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease that has killed 27 people in Britain since 1995.
Hundreds of thousands of cattle have been slaughtered and their carcasses destroyed since March 1996; only nine sheep have been tested.
Scientists have known for two years that sheep could be infected because they were fed the same suspect fed - containing parts of sheep - caused the disease in cattle. The suspect food is no longer being used.
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