Search for BSE test abandoned


11 August 1999


Search for BSE test abandoned


THE Medical Research Council (MRC) has abandoned its attempt to build a test capable of detecting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle.

The decision was made – after £200,000 had been spent – when the tests inventor, Dr Harash Narang, a former government scientist, was apparently unable to deal with its defects.

Narang, an outspoken critic of government policy on BSE, has been told that the project designed to assess the accuracy of his test cannot continue because the MRC says he has failed to agree a suitable scientific protocol.

The test was also planned to detect Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of BSE.

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