Volume 1: Findings and Conclusions
14. Lessons to be learned

1260 We have reached the final chapter of this volume - consideration of the lessons to be learned from the events that we have been considering. First we summarise lessons from particular episodes of the story and then lessons to be learned about five topics which run right through the story: the use of advisory committees; dealing with uncertainty; legislative loopholes; crisis management; and the experience of the victims of vCJD and their families.

1261 Aspects of this Inquiry make this an unusual and not entirely satisfactory exercise. The BSE story is an ongoing story. We have looked at a substantial section of the story, but one that ended over four-and-a-half years ago. We have conducted a particularly public Inquiry and believe that, while it has been proceeding, many lessons have already been learned from the BSE experience and acted upon. The scenery has shifted very considerably from that with which we have made ourselves familiar. The most significant changes have been the creation of the Food Standards Agency and the devolution of powers to a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. We have also been informed of the creation of a large number of interdepartmental bodies, covering areas which include zoonoses, animal disease surveillance and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) research.

1262 The Office of Science and Technology has addressed the questions of the Government's use of science, the Government's use of expert committees and the Government's approach to risk. These topics have also received consideration by a number of other institutions.

1263 It is not part of our remit to assess how well all these developments are now working. That is for others, including the Government, press and public. We propose to confine ourselves strictly to the lessons to be learned from the BSE experience up to 20 March 1996. If some of these lessons have already been learned, others may bear repeating.