Sheep BSE false alarm slammed


17 December 2001



Sheep BSE ‘false alarm’ slammed

By Alistair Driver


GOVERNMENT advisors have criticised the Food Standards Agency for prematurely releasing information about bungled tests for BSE in sheep.


The BSE advisory committee said the agency was wrong to warn that the results could be compatible with BSE in sheep before tests were completed.


It now wants to interview food agency chairman Sir John Krebs to discuss his organisations “commitment to openness”.


Government departments should stop publishing incomplete work that could not be reliably interpreted, the advisory committee said.


The agency raised expectations of the results by publishing the information early, reveal minutes from a meeting of the committee in November.


This forced ministers to go public immediately after scientists checking samples found that cattle brains had been used instead of sheep brains.


“Data would normally be subject to peer review before being made public,” say the minutes, which were published on Monday (17 December).


The BSE advisors also criticised the government for taking too long to develop quicker tests to detect BSE exists in sheep.


Molecular tests being developed by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency can differentiate between BSE and scrapie faster than methods using mice.


But so far only about 500 sheep have been tested using the technique and it is yet to be scientifically validated.


“Some members expressed frustration about the limited development of molecular techniques,” the minutes reveal.


“The view was expressed that more work needs to be done to refine Western Bloc techniques… in a manner that was reproducible and unequivocal.”


Advisory committee chairman Peter Smith said “encouraging progress” was being made and he hoped more sheep brains would be tested in 2002.


But validating the tests was complicated and could be a long way off.

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