Volume 11: Scientists after Southwood
2. The Tyrrell Consultative Committee
The third meeting

2.74 The third and final meeting of the Tyrrell Committee was held on 8 May 1989. Again, all members of the Committee were present. In addition to discussing the latest summary of epidemiological findings, the Committee spent the bulk of its time considering in detail the format and the draft of the Interim Report circulated prior to the meeting. ¹

2.75 Dr Tyrrell reported that he had met Mr Wilesmith on 20 April to discuss the epidemiological data. He had also spoken to Professor Roy Anderson, who felt that most of the conclusions on BSE had still not been rigorously proved by the epidemiology thus far. For example, it was important to obtain additional data on age distribution. ²

2.76 For this third meeting the CVL had provided an updated 'Summary of Epidemiological Findings' for the Committee's consideration. This summary reported that while there were difficulties in ascertaining the true incidence of BSE, there was some evidence that it had reached its maximum. In particular, data on Guernsey, which had a 'perfect reporting rate', showed an 'underlying, relatively constant incidence'. ³ Dr Tyrrell noted that although data on Guernsey helped explain the CVL's view that there should be a plateau of cases in the rest of the UK, too much reliance should not be placed on such limited information. ⁴ The Committee agreed that still more data was necessary to enable a much more detailed analysis of the epidemiology. ⁵

2.77 As regards discussion of the draft Interim Report, details of amendments were not recorded in the minutes. However, a 'clean version' incorporating the amendments was forwarded by Dr Pickles to Dr Tyrrell the following day (see paragraph 3.15 below). It was agreed that once finalised by the end of May, the Report would be submitted to DH and MAFF, with a covering letter from the Chairman seeking guidance on the future of the Committee. ⁶