No BSE inquiry till ban lifted
No BSE inquiry till ban lifted
GOVERNMENT should not carry out a public inquiry into the BSE crisis until after the UKs worldwide beef ban is lifted.
NFU president, Sir David Naish, said he was not opposed to a public inquiry but said its terms of reference were vitally important and that, if set up, it should be run on similar lines to a Royal Commission report. Sir David added that a loose inquiry before the beef ban was lifted could become a political knock-about which would merely raise further questions from EU member nations.
He has written to farm minister, Jack Cunningham, and health minister, Frank Dobson, setting out the unions stance.
Richard MacDonald, NFU director general, said that while he accepted people wanted an inquiry, it might be difficult to reach any conclusions because of the swift development of science in recent years. Mr MacDonald said he was concerned that an early inquiry might give people in Europe an excuse not to lift the ban before its conclusions were published. *