The BSE-in-sheep fiasco

17 December 2001



The BSE-in-sheep fiasco

• Statement to House of Commons – Margaret Beckett, 22 October 2001 (Hansard)

• Margaret Becketts explanation, 22 October 2001 (Defra statement)

• BSE in sheep: current research, 17 October 2001 (Defra press release)
• Our farming guide for Defra – Click here
  
  

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• Sheep BSE false alarm slammed
  
  17 December 2001
  GOVERNMENT advisors have criticised the Food Standards Agency for prematurely releasing information about bungled tests for BSE in sheep.

• Sheep BSE fiasco: Institute denies blame
  
  30 November 2001
  THE Institute of Animal Health insists it is not to blame for the collapse of a the BSE-in-sheep experiment despite being blamed by an investigation.

• Ministers plan ram cull in scrapie fight
  
  26 October 2001
  RAMS susceptible to scrapie will be culled or castrated under government plans to regain confidence after the fiasco surrounding its BSE tests.

• Defra delayed sheep BSE news by 10 hours
  
  26 October 2001
  OFFICIALS knew the BSE-in-sheep brains experiment was wrecked 10 hours before revealing the news at night on a government website.

• BSE-in-sheep answers in months
  
  25 October 2001
  FARMERS could know within months, rather than years, whether BSE exists in sheep, according to the governments chief scientist.

• Cow & Gate demands BSE-resistant lamb
  
  24 October 2001
  BABY-FOOD maker Cow & Gate has announced that it will buy lamb only from sheep which are genetically resistant to diseases such as BSE.

• Gill writes to Beckett on sheep fiasco
  
  23 October 2001
  FARMERS leader Ben Gill has written to Rural Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett to express concern at the fiasco over BSE in sheep.

• Brussels steps in over BSE sheep
  
  23 October 2001
  BRUSSELS is considering tighter food safety measures after Britains tests for BSE in sheep ended in fiasco.

• Papers make a meal of Becketts brains
  
  23 October 2001
  RURAL Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett has been lampooned by parliamentary sketch writers in Britains national papers.

• Two more years for sheep BSE probe
  
  22 October 2001
  FARMERS face more uncertainty after food safety officials admitted it could take two years before it is known whether BSE is present in sheep.

• Beckett pressed on botched BSE tests
  
  22 October 2001
  RURAL Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett is under pressure to make an emergency statement over the BSE-in-sheep testing fiasco.

• Sheep BSE tests – on cows brains
  
  19 October 2001
  GOVERNMENT scientists spent five years trying to find out if BSE had infected sheep have mistakenly been testing the brains of cows instead.

• BSE-in-sheep research flawed
  
  18 October 2001
  TESTS on British sheep have uncovered no signs of BSE but recent experiments have exposed flaws in research from the 1990s.

• BSE in sheep – answers imminent
  
  5 October 2001
  FARMERS should find out in the coming fortnight whether or not mad cow disease has jumped from cattle to sheep.

• National cull if sheep get BSE
  
  27 September 2001
  GOVERNMENT options if BSE is found in sheep include a mass cull of the national sheep flock, according to a contingency plan published by Defra.

• BSE-in-sheep scare concerns farmers
  
  3 August, 2001
  LIVESTOCK farmers have been dealt a further blow by high-profile media reports that BSE may have existed in British sheep in the 1990s.