The European Commission has approved a financial package to fight transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) and other animal diseases in the EU in 2003.


The European Union (EU) budget will contribute €94m (US$91.4m) for financing BSE and scrapie monitoring. The amount will be used for the purchase of test kits. The Commission also adopted funding provisions for the 2003 programmes eradicating animal diseases and preventing zoonoses like salmonella.


The EU will contribute €38m from its resources in the veterinary field for the eradication and monitoring of major animal diseases in the Member States. The diseases targeted by the programmes either have implications for both human and animal health, or cause serious losses in livestock farming and therefore constitute barriers to intra-EU or international trade.


For further information on this package, click here.