Sheep BSE tests – on cows brains
19 October 2001
Sheep BSE tests – on cows’ brains
By Adrienne Francis
GOVERNMENT scientists spent five years trying to find out if BSE had infected sheep have mistakenly been testing the brains of cows instead.
The tests, which cost the taxpayer 217,000, have been declared null after government officials were forced to admit the error.
The Independent says the “astonishing mix-up” calls into question the quality of the science on which Britains anti-BSE strategy is based.
The Daily Mail says the blunder is a huge embarrassment for Ministers and the Government-funded institute in Pirbright, Surrey:
“The reality is that no assurance can be given because the experiment designed to get to the truth collapsed … leaving Britons not knowing if they ate lamb contaminated with the deadly disorder in the early 1990s.
The Guardian says that the error in the research is a blow to the reputation of scientists.
The paper quotes Harriet Kimbell, of the governments BSE advisory committee as saying: “Its unbelievable”.
The Times reports the tests as a “fiasco” and says scientists at the institute are upset and confused that the blunder could have happened.
Anna Bradley, director of the Consumer Council, told the paper it was scandalous that what little research had been done was flawed.
Chris Bostock, director of the governments BSE advisory committee said he too was flabbergasted that the research was botched.
He added: “My own view is that the real question that people are interested in is whether there is BSE in sheep today, not in 1990.”