A BAN on selling British lamb would put an end to hill farming in Northern England.

Earlier this week, MAFF said a total ban was one possibility being considered if BSE was confirmed in the national flock.

Mr Richard Betton, who farms at Waters Meeting, Harwood, in Teesdale, and is hill farming delegate to the NFU's national committee, said: "It would be the end of hill farming in the North of England; the majority of farmers keep sheep."

He also pointed out that, for every person involved in farming, there were 15 more whose livelihood was linked to the industry.

BSE has been passed from cattle to sheep in laboratory conditions but never naturally.

However, Sir John Krebs, the Food Standards Agency chairman, said that they did not know if sheep were contracting BSE. The condition could be masked by the sheep disease scrapie, which did not appear to have a human health risk.

An alternative to the ban would be to market only meat from genetically immune sheep. MAFF has launched a plan to breed scrapie and related diseases out of sheep but the FSA said it would take ten years or more.

A MAFF spokesman said both possibilities were being considered but no final decision had been taken.

The NFU, while stressing that no trace of naturally-occurring BSE had ever been found in sheep, agreed that draconian measures would be needed if the disease was found in the national flock.

The FSA, in a review of BSE controls, recommended the urgent development and application of rapid screening for sheep.

It is concerned that so few sheep had been screened for BSE, giving a figure of 200, but this was disputed by Mr Mike Attenborough of the Meat and Livestock Commission, who said more than 3,000 had been tested.

He said there was no reason to worry about British lamb.

Sir John also said consumers should be given clear information so that they could choose whether to eat British or imported meat.