Beef on bone what the papers say
1 December 1999
Beef on bone — what the papers say
THE lifting of the beef-on-the-bone ban has given Britains daily papers a chance to comment on one of the most unpopular pieces of recent legislation.
The Independent asks its readers to look out for three nervous men, glancing at the sky and walking in circles around trees.
An anxious trio fitting this description would probably be the chief medical officers of England, Scotland and Wales, says the papers editorial.
It reasons: “How else can we explain their bizarre approach to risk, except by thinking that they see danger in the quietest backwater of daily life?”
If beef on the bone is safe now, it was safe when the ban was imposed, it adds. “Can someone now explain why we couldnt eat T-bone steak for two years?”
The Daily Telegraph is equally scathing about the ban, which was imposed two years ago by former agriculture minister Jack Cunningham.
It describes Dr Cunninghams law as a “panic response” to a “limited and arguably irrelevant” report by SEAC, the governments advisors on BSE.
The ban “misjudged the public mood” and let to widespread civil disobedience from people who persisted in seeking out beef on the bone after it was outlawed.
“Let the beef-on-the-bone fiasco be a lesson to ministerial busybodies.”
The Telegraph also believes that Scottish and Welsh CMOs, who opposed lifting the ban earlier, vetoed a speedier resumption of sales in England.
“The beef-on-the-bone idiocy could have been stopped a long time ago in England if Tony Blair had been willing to live with the consequences of his own devolution policies.”
Although sales are not due to official resume until 17 December, The Express says on its front page that “Beef on the bone will go back on sale today”.
Agriculture minister Nick Brown “gave a nod and a wink to prosecutors” to drop their checks on butchers shops, says the paper.
Anouncing the end of the ban yesterday in the House of Commons, Mr Brown told MPs: “I know enforcement authorities will wish to take not of my statement.”
The Times reports that oxtails, T-bone steaks and ribs of beef were already on sale at selected butchers.