The "intelligent non scientific public", whatever that means, has heard
*politicians* bending the advice and opinions of scientists to their own
ends. They have read ill informed and scientifically illiterate
political writers covering areas way outside their competence.
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From the BSE enquiry report:
On Sir Donald's advice, an expert working party, chaired by Sir Richard Southwood, was set up to advise on the implications of BSE. After their first meeting in June 1988, the Southwood Working Party advised that cattle showing signs of BSE should be slaughtered and destroyed. This advice was of crucial importance in safeguarding human health. The Working Party had concerns about some occupational health risks in relation to BSE and some risks posed by medicinal products. They notified the responsible authorities of these concerns. On 9 February 1989 they submitted a Report to the Government in the knowledge that it would be published. The report concluded that the risk of transmission of BSE to humans appeared remote and that 'it was most unlikely that BSE would have any implications for human health'.
This assessment of risk was made on the following basis:
- BSE was probably derived from scrapie and could be expected to behave like scrapie. Scrapie had not been transmitted to humans in over 200 years and so BSE was not likely to transmit either.
- So far as occupational and medicinal risks were concerned, the authorities which had been notified about these could be relied upon to take appropriate measures to address them.
The Report did not, as it should have done, make clear the basis for its assessment of risk. It did comment that if the assessment was incorrect the implications would be extremely serious. This warning was lost from sight. The Southwood Report was, in years to come, repeatedly cited as constituting a scientific appraisal that the risks posed by BSE to humans were remote and that no precautionary measures were needed other than those recommended by the Working Party.
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