Ministry 'blocked BSE disclosure'

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

More on government role in globalizing the UK BSE epidemic

Cheers etc., Lynette.

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THE GUARDIAN, London, October 13, 1998

Ministry 'blocked BSE disclosure'

Former chief medical officer tells

inquiry that officials

drew the line at taking action that

might undermine

confidence in British beef

By Stuart Millar

Tuesday October 13, 1998

" The meaning of 'safe' is central...

If you look at 'safe' in

ordinary speech, we don't mean that a

driver we describe

as safe will never have an accident.

In ordinary usage safe

doesn't necessarily mean 'no risk'. "

Ministry of Agriculture officials

opposed telling ministers

and the public that BSE-contaminated

offal may have been

processed into the human food chain,

even after

government health chiefs discovered

that safeguards in

slaughterhouses were being flouted.

Sir Calman, who retired as

chief medical officer

last month, told the BSE inquiry

yesterday that MAFF

officials had refused to see its

failure to police its own rules

as a potential public health crisis

rather than a development

which could undermine confidence in

British beef.

While he had felt it important that

the public was given as

much information on the new risks as

possible, he told the

inquiry that " MAFF clearly found that

a step too far " .

For six years, Sir and his

predecessor, Sir

Acheson, had issued assurances that

beef could be eaten

safely - based on MAFF's repeated

insistence that its ban

on potentially infective materials

was working. The advice

had not been intended to mean that

there was no possible

risk, but merely that the scientific

evidence suggested no

significant danger.

Central to the inquiry, therefore,

was the definition of 'safe',

he said. " If we talk about a safe

driver, we do not mean that

the driver will never have an

accident. If you talk about a

safe pair of hands, you do not mean

that the person will

never have a problem. In ordinary

usage, safe does not

mean no risk. "

Yet even after that qualified advice

was cast into serious

doubt in October 1995 by the

revelation that the controls

were being flouted, MAFF argued

against advising ministers

on a Cabinet sub-committee that

certain meat products

could pose a risk to human health.

His evidence will add weight to

critcism of MAFF for its

handling of the BSE affair. At least

29 people are believed

to have died from the human form of

the disease after eating

meat contaminated before controls

were introduced in

1989.

Outside the inquiry, Dot Churchill of

Devizes, Wiltshire,

whose 19-year-old son died of

CJD in 1995,

condemned officials for their " lack

of forward planning " in

dealing with the crisis. " Two strong

things that came across

today are that safe does not

necessarily mean safe, and also

that there was very little

communication made to the public.

There has been very little attempt to

look after victims of

CJD. "

In his written statement to the

inquiry, published last Friday,

Sir accused the Chief

Veterinary Officer,

Meldrum, of underestimating the

extent of the problem after

veterinary inspections of abattoirs

revealed four instances of

banned spinal cords being left in

carcasses - despite

assurances to the contrary.

Sir said yesterday that his

comments had not been

meant as a personal criticism of Mr

Meldrum.

But he added that until 1995 " the

impression I had during

that time was that the ban was in

place and being properly

policed. If I had had any concerns, I

would have acted in

the way I did in 1995 and drawn it to

the attention of

ministers. "

The identification by scientists of a

new human form of the

disease in a cluster of patients

under the age of 42 on

March 11, 1996 - nine days before the

Government's

official announcement - had added to

the pressure.

In contrast to the pharmaceutical

industry, which had acted

swiftly to remove British bovine

material from its products,

the attitude of farmers and abbatoir

operators had been a

crucial factor in the failure of

controls, Sir said.

" The farming industry, and perhaps

the slaughterhouse

industry, didn't quite realise just

how serious this might be. "