Reader's letter

I was stunned to find that in a parliamentary answer reported in the Sunday Times (April 2), calves are still being fed blood products, gelatin and tallow in their feed as a cheap means of boosting growth.

I thought it was well known by now, with 52 people dead of nvCJD, that cattle had to be fed a wholesome vegetarian diet to stop the spread of BSE, which causes nvCJD in humans.

Was not the feed ban in 1996 meant to achieve just this? But now the cannibal feed goes on, as though BSE had never happened.

We were told that British beef was among the safest in the world. But with the cannibal food practice still going on, how can this be? It makes a mockery of the claim.

The Medical Research Council says the cannibal recycling is "dangerous", according to Professor Collinge, director of nvCJD research.

This news matters to York because on April 17, councillors will meet to decide on the telephone poll taken of citizens (which has already taken place), whether to put beef back on the school menu.

In view of the appalling feed practice still going on, how could they?

Chris Clayton,

Hempland Drive,

York.

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