The epidemic of Mad Cow Disease in the U.K / Roy Anderson.

In this lecture Prof. Roy Anderson (University of Oxford) gives the history of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie. He lists the events of the BSE saga up to 1997 and examines factors relevant to the origins of the epidemic and its spread. He discusses studies of maternal transmission and the aims and effectiveness of culling cattle. He sets out the known facts relating to New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) - of which there have been 16 confirmed cases up to the time of the lecture. In view of the impossibility of forecasting the number of expected cases of New Variant CJD he calls for revision of the rules over animal feed, including antibiotics - and for government departments to be more open in informing the public when health concerns arise. They must admit that they do not have the scientific expertise to tackle major problems. Scientists, too, must learn to admit that they do not always have a ready answer. The lecture is illustrated with slides and graphs.