THE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FIRST AND 2ND BSE PROTECTIVE ORDERS AS VIEWEDFROM NATURAL-SCIENCE AND JURISPRUDENCE

The First and Second BSE Protective Orders are neither convenient nor lawful for the following reasons, on the basis of science and jurispru dence: (i) BSE did not occur in the United Kingdom by natural means, b ut through the feeding of infected meat and bone meal to cattle, (ii) Even under these conditions, BSE only affected a small number of anima ls per herd, therefore is not an epidemic disease in the classical sen se and not an animal disease in the sense i of the German Animal Disea se Act, (iii) the ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal is a suffic ient measure to control BSE, (iv) if contrary to current knowledge, ho rizontal or vertical transmission of the BSE agent between animals occ urred it would not prevent the eradication of BSE, and (v) there are s trong reasons to presume thar German BSE cases were produced within Ge rmany by the feeding of imported meat and bone meal, or similar produc ts to cattle, which caused at least the first four German BSE cases. F irmly, attention is drawn to the need for an efficient method to detec t BSE in slaughtered cattle.