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EFSA reaffirms no threat of scrapie transmitting from animals to humans

Xinhua, August 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

There is no scientific proof that classical scrapie can be transmitted from animals to humans under real-life conditions, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Union's (EU) food safety regulatory body, said Wednesday.

This was reaffirmed by EFSA experts after they reviewed recent scientific evidence and concluded that current scientific knowledge does not change the conclusion of a 2011 scientific opinion.

Experts concluded it is not possible to assess scrapie-related public health risks from the consumption of sheep-derived food products.

They highlighted that current scientific knowledge on scrapie is limited, as information is lacking on the variability of different strains, their geographical distribution and how they may affect potential crossover to other species.

The new study reviewed by EFSA at the request of the European Commission, said that under laboratory conditions classical scrapie could be transmitted from sheep to mice, whose genes had been modified to resemble human genes. This transmission caused a disease similar to sporadic CJD, or sCJD, which is a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Endit