Sir, Faced with mad cow disease let us not altogether lose our senses I mean common sense and a sense of proportion. By any standards we have had an absolutely tiny number of cases of this disease in Ireland and a good proportion of these have been in imported dairy stock. In all outbreaks the infected animals have been destroyed and the entire herd examined and slaughtered. By all scientific standards, this has been satisfactory practice to eradicate the disease.
So let us have confidence in our own beef. Beef animals, aside from getting one or two routine doses during their lifetimes, are as pure as you will get anywhere in the world. They are not born into some feed lot never to see the light of day they start life perhaps in Connemara or West Clare and provide a time honoured living for people throughout this country, not least a very significant number of processing jobs. Our cattle are our greatest natural resource. At this sensitive time we must tell the world this and not revel in an orgy of beef bashing for its own sake.
British beef as a problem which is tragic for those farmers who have reared and fed it over the years. It has been condemned, let us remember, only "on the balance of probability" that there is a link with CJD. On that evidence, a good proportion of their 11 million cattle may have to be slaughtered. Scientists have as yet to answers to the urgent concerns of everyone. Meanwhile, consumer groups search frantically for every last shred of British beef from the supermarket shelves. Consumer confidence has been lost on foot of this uncertainty.
We, in Ireland, do not have to face this uncertainty and we must not get caught up in mass hysteria. It is a fact that all present day foodstuffs have in some way been treated by 20th century agriculture, be it the spraying of crops and vegetables or the doses that are used on sheep and pigs.
They cost twice as much and there would only be half as much. There are strict certification systems in place for all these products. Essentially our food is wholesome and healthy due to this proper husbandry. So please, everyone, keep a sense of proportion and don't despair of beef.
As an aside to the vegetarian lobby who may see opportunity in this crisis for beef, can I remind everyone that if vegetarians want still to eat milk and dairy products, to have milk a cow must have a calf and 50 per cent of these will be bull calves which do not produce milk! What are we going to do with them? Yes we eat them and I think that is still the common sense solution. Yours, etc., Kilkea Hse, Castledermot, Co Kildare.