BSE: How the crisis unfolded
26 October 2000
BSE: How the crisis unfolded
THE BSE scandal which engulfed British agriculture in the late 1980s and 1990s devastated the beef industry and, not least, has also claimed 84 human victims. Key events during the crisis are as follows:
December 1984
Friesian cow contracts a mysterious disease on a West Sussex farm. The animal, known as Cow 133, has an arched back and is losing weight. It develops a head tremor and becomes uncoordinated before dying two months later.
November 1986
BSE is officially recognised as a disease after extensive post-mortem tests on Cow 133 and further studies. But the government is not told until Chief Veterinary Officer William Howard Rees informs farm minister John MacGregor six months later in June 1987.
June 1988
The Southwood Working Party examines concerns that BSE is entering the food chain. Chairman Sir Richard Southwood later recommends extending a ban on ruminant-based feed, destroying milk from infected cows and keeping tabs on offspring of affected cattle.
August 1988
A slaughter policy is announced to destroy all animals showing clinical symptoms that might have BSE. Compensation is paid at 50% for confirmed cases of BSE and 100% for negative cases.
November 1989
The governments ban on “specified bovine offals” for human and animal consumption comes into force.
February 1990
A surge in animals with BSE is recorded after the government introduces full compensation for animals slaughtered. The increase prompts fears that large amounts of BSE-infected meat have entered the food chain.
May 1990
Chief Medical Officer Sir Donald Acheson announces that beef is safe to eat. His successor Sir Kenneth Calman, later tells the BSE Inquiry that “in ordinary usage safe does not necessarily mean no risk”. Farm minister John Gummer feeds a burger to his four-year-old daughter Cordelia in front of the cameras at the East Coast Boat Show in Ipswich.
1992-3
BSE numbers peak at 37,280 cattle in 1992. The 100,000th confirmed case of the disease in Great Britain is announced. Three cattle in every thousand now have the disease.
May 1995
Stephen Churchill, 19, becomes the first known victim of a new variant of Creutzfeld Jakob Disease (nvCJD). His is the first of three nvCJD deaths in 1995. Five months after Mr Churchill dies, the governments BSE advisers issue a press release concerning suspected CJD in a cattle farmer. Three previous CJD cases have already been confirmed in dairy farmers who had BSE in their herds.
March 1996
The Conservative government acknowledges a probable link between BSE and CJD. The CJD Surveillance Unit concludes that the most likely explanation is that CJD is linked to exposure to BSE before the specified bovine offal ban in 1989. Brussels bans global exports of beef from Britain. The government reacts by banning cattle older than 30 months from the food chain.
August-October 1996
MAFF announces that interim results from an ongoing study show that BSE can be passed from cow to calf from maternal transmission. The recall of meat and bonemeal feed is completed. About 10,000 tonnes are held by the Intervention Board until safe disposal can be arranged.
February-June 1997
The governments handling of the BSE crisis is criticised in a report by the European Parliament Temporary Committee of Inquiry. A new campaign is launched to remind farmers that cattle must be registered under the cattle passport system.
December 1997
Farm minister Jack Cunningham announces a ban on beef on the bone. It requires the deboning of all beef from cattle aged over six months at slaughter before it can be sold to consumers.
March 1998
The 27m public inquiry into BSE, chaired by Lord Justice Phillips, begins public hearings in London. During the following two years, it collects more than 3000 lever-arch files of information, hears oral evidence from 333 witnesses and takes written evidence from more than 630 witnesses.
August 1999
Brussels lifts the export ban on British beef. The Date-Based Export Scheme starts, permitting the export of UK beef produced under strict conditions. Despite objections, Germany and France refuse to accept shipments.
November 1999
Royal Assent is granted to the Food Standards Bill which will establish the Food Standards Agency, promised under the Labour governments pledge to put the interest of consumers before producers. The UK requests that the European Commission takes legal action against France for maintaining its ban on British beef.
October 2000
Lord Phillips hands ministers his final report from the BSE Inquiry. By now, 4.5m cattle have been slaughtered in a bid to control BSE at a cost of 1.4bn in compensation to farmers. So far, about 84 people have died from CJD but their families have received no government pay-out. Beef exports are worth 5m a year compared to 500m before 1996. The total cost of the crisis is put at 4.5bn.