Volume 16: Reference Material
1. BSE chronology

DATE	EVENT
1732	Scrapie first recorded in sheep, though not yet known by that name (at this time, George II was king and Robert Walpole the first British Prime Minister).
1794	A report to the Board of Agriculture mentions a disease called 'the Rubbers'.
1799	Description in Young's Annals of Agriculture of 'the Rubs' or 'the Rubbers', 'from their seeming to rub themselves to death, by which some very capital flocks, in the vicinity of Bury, have lost several hundreds'.
1853	Possible first references to the disease under the name of 'scrapie'.
1865	Liebig recommends the use of meat by-products in pig feed.
1883	Publication of 'Un cas de tremblante sur un boeuf' (translated as 'Scrapie in a cow') by French veterinarian M Sarraet, in Revue médicale vétérinaire (the case had occurred in 1881).
1900	Meat and bone meal (MBM) is used in ruminant feeds at the turn of the century.
1908	O Kellner refers to the use of meat by-products in animal feed.
1915	Publication of William Goodwin's translation of O Kellner's The Scientific Feeding of Animals.
1920	The Austrian neurologist Hans-Gerhard Creutzfeldt publishes a case of 'Creutzfeldt' Disease.
1920s	By now, using sterilised MBM and fishmeal is a well-established way of feeding the protein needed for high milk production.
1921	The Austrian neurologist Alfons Maria Jakob reports four cases of CJD.
1924	Report of the Fertilisers and Feedingstuffs Advisory Committee recommends that raw materials used in compound feeds should be listed in new legislation.
1925	Report of the Fertilisers and Feedingstuffs Advisory Committee recommends what should be listed in the Schedules, including MBM.
1926	Fertiliser and Feeding Stuffs Act 1926 includes a description of MBM as a feedstuff.
1928	Description of the use of MBM in cattle feed in America and Europe.
1931	J S Thompson, in The Use of Meat Meal in Calf Feeding: Some Recent Experiences by Farmers, refers to the use of meat meal as an alternative protein source to that of milk products such as skim and whey.
1932	The Fertilisers and Feedingstuffs Regulations 1932 introduce a revised definition of feeding MBM containing not less than 40 per cent protein. This definition remains in force through to the 1970s, when the UK enters the European Community.
1934	J L Rees describes the use of rendered meat meal as a supplement for grass in the feeding of sheep on a number of farms in New South Wales, Australia.
1936	Public Health Act 1936 requires renderers to obtain a licence from their local authority. Local authority power to regulate can be exercised through denial of a licence or prosecution as a statutory nuisance (such as smell).
1936	S Morris, in The Protein Requirements of Lactation, refers to experiments on dairy cows that measure the effect of protein intake. A number of the studies include rendered meat feed.
1936	Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS - a rare familial form of CJD) identified. Also known as Gerstmann-Sträussler syndrome.
1939	A C T Hewitt describes the feeding of meat meal to dairy cattle in Australia.
1939-45 (Second World War)	The UK needs to produce more of its own food and to use as little human food as possible to produce livestock products. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (as it was known then) leads the way in advising compounders to use non-food industrial by-products in compound feeds.
1939-1940s	During the Second World War and the period immediately afterwards, the manufacture of MBM is mainly controlled by Orders passed under Regulation 55 of the Defence (General) Regulations 1939.
1942	The Feeding Stuffs (Regulation of Manufacture) Order 1942 defines a group of raw materials as 'animal-protein-rich substances meaning any substance other than dried blood derived from any animal or fish and which contains not less than 40 per cent protein'.
1943	R G Linton and G Williamson describe good MBM as a valuable complementary stock feed.
1946	The Feeding Stuffs (Regulation of Manufacture) (Amendment No. 10) Order 1946 (No. 2124) specifies a minimum of 5 per cent animal-protein-rich substances in the ration for feeding young cattle. This is removed in December 1947 by the Feedingstuffs (Regulation of Manufacture) (Amendment No. 2) Order 1947.
1950	Diseases of Animals Act.
1952	Accession of Elizabeth II.
1957	Kuru first reported.
1957	The Diseases of Animals (Waste Foods) Order 1957 (SI 1957/628), among other things, prohibits the feeding of unboiled waste foods to certain animals or to poultry.
19 February 1966	Publication of a study in Nature by D C Gajdusek, C J Gibbs Jr and M P Alpers showing intracerebral transmission of kuru to chimpanzees.
1968	Professor Walter R Kirschbaum of the North Western University Medical School, Chicago, reports details of 150 cases of CJD.
1969	The Swann Committee (the Joint Committee on the Use of Antibiotics in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine) highlights the problems of the use of medicines in feedstuffs and the risks associated with contamination.
1960s and 1970s	Large-scale continuous rendering plant is developed in the United States, and adopted by an increasing number of the larger renderers. Compared with the batch techniques, continuous plant offers savings in labour and energy costs at high levels of capacity utilisation.
1970	Agriculture Act 1970 (Part IV: Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs) introduces a labelling requirement according to prescribed criteria (eg, protein, vitamins, energy). Feeds must be marked before removal from manufacturer.
1971	The first continuous rendering plant in the UK is commissioned.
1971-72	Prosper De Mulder (PDM) installs a Carver-Greenfield rendering plant at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, its first continuous processing plant.
1972	R Roos et al. report details of another 47 cases of CJD, including ones in which inoculated brain tissue has transmitted the disease to primates.
1973	The Fertiliser and Feeding Stuffs Regulations 1973 (SI 1973/1521).
1973	The Diseases of Animals (Waste Foods) Order 1973 (SI 1973/1936) deals with the licensing of waste food processing premises by the local authority, enforced by inspection.
1974	Major explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough involving flammable solvent.
1974	The Control of Pollution Act 1974 contains provisions relating to the disposal of waste from the rendering industry.
1975	The Zoonoses Order 1975 (SI 1975/1030) controls infected premises with a risk to human health from salmonella or brucella.
1976	Department of the Environment Circular: 'Control of smells from the animal waste processing industry.'
c.1976	US Department of Agriculture decides that carcasses of sheep and goats with scrapie should not be used for human or animal food.
October 1976	The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) decides to establish a new Advisory Committee on Scrapie Research (and later discusses its report with the Medical Research Council (MRC)).
1977	Department of the Environment publishes The Prevention and Abatement of Smells from Animal Wastes: A Code of Practice.
1977	The Slaughterhouse (Hygiene) Regulations 1977 (SI 1977/1805). Regulation 47 requires animal waste products to be removed from slaughterhouses at least once every two days.
1978	Veterinary scientist Dr John Stamp advises the New Zealand government to slaughter several thousand sheep in order to eliminate scrapie found in a breeding flock imported from the UK.
9 March 1978	The MRC convenes a workshop to discuss the feasibility of CJD epidemiology studies.
June 1978	The Neurosciences Board establishes a Working Group on CJD, chaired by Professor John Walton. Its remit is to advise the Board on the value and feasibility of conducting epidemiological studies on CJD, and on research needs relating to other aspects of the disease.
1 September 1978	The Warble Fly (England and Wales) Order 1978 (SI 1978/1197) comes into operation.
2 April 1979	EC Directive (79/373/EEC) deals with (1) what has to be on the label of compound animal feedstuffs, and (2) what may be on the label. It permits sellers of feedstuffs, if they wish, to set out the ingredients, but they are not obliged to. Implemented by UK Regulation in 1982.
3 May 1979	General Election won by the Conservative Party. Mrs Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister.
September 1979	Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 7th Report: Agriculture and Pollution.
November 1979	Start of the MRC-funded epidemiological study of CJD.
31 January 1980	Second meeting of the MRC's Working Group on CJD.
1980	Publication of the ARC report Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock, which quotes a finding by E R Orskov et al. that MBM protein is less degradable in the rumen than all the other ingredients tested except fishmeal. This leads to the larger-scale use of MBM as Rumen Undegraded Protein (UDP) for high-yield milkers.
1980	The MRC considers Dr Alan Dickinson's proposals for what is to become the Neuropathogenesis Unit (NPU). Because it concerns both animal and human health, it has to be funded by both the ARC and the MRC.
1981	The joint ARC/MRC NPU is established in Edinburgh under Dr Alan Dickinson.
1981	The Diseases of Animals (Protein Processing) Order 1981 (SI 1981/676) empowers an authorised officer (Veterinary Officer) to enter premises which process animal waste and/or animal proteins for feedstuffs and take samples to be tested by MAFF laboratories.
1981	The Fresh Meat Export (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1981 (SI 1981/454) require all animals killed in export-approved slaughterhouses to be subject to EC procedures.
1981	Animal Health Act 1981, excluding Northern Ireland, brings together much legislation in respect of animal health and control of animal diseases, and includes provision for slaughter of diseased animals.
1982	UK implements EC Directive permitting sellers of animal feedstuffs, if they wish, to set out the ingredients, but not obliging them to (see also 2 April 1979).
1982	The Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 (SI 1982/1018) require any meat from slaughterhouses not fit for human consumption to be stained or sterilised.
1982	PDM introduce 'BioAdd' to MBM to give 'a reasonable lasting protection to the meal against bacterial reinfection after rendering, be it in storage, at the feed mill or on the farm'.
15 March 1982	The Warble Fly (England and Wales) Order 1982 (SI 1982/234) comes into operation.
1983	The Meat and Poultrymeat (Staining and Sterilisation) (Scotland) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/704): similar to the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 for England and Wales - see above.
1984	Milk production quotas are introduced to overcome the imbalance between production and consumption of milk products (too much milk being produced).
12 November 1984	The Meat Products and Spreadable Fish Products Regulations 1984 (SI 1984/1566) state that brains and certain other organs may not be used in uncooked meat products.
22 December 1984	Mr David Bee, a veterinary surgeon, is called to examine Cow 133, which is suffering from an arched back and weight loss on Peter Stent's farm (Pitsham Farm).
1985	The Priorities Board for Research and Development in Agriculture and Food (in existence from 1985 to 1993) makes a 20 per cent cut in the funding for animal disease.
11 February 1985	Cow 133 dies, having earlier developed head tremor and incoordination.
April 1985	Date on which clinical signs were shown by the first cow later identified by Mr Gerald Wells as suffering from 'a novel progressive spongiform encephalopathy' (ie, BSE), as described by him and others in the Veterinary Record, vol. 121, 31 October 1987, p. 419.
1 April 1985	The Monopolies and Mergers Commission publish Animal Waste: A Report on the Supply of Animal Waste in Great Britain (on the market position of Prosper De Mulder and its subsidiaries in the rendering sector).
13 August 1985	Preston Farmers Feed Declaration published, showing 'ingredients used in different categories of feed produced for each livestock species'.
10 September 1985	Veterinary Officer J M Watkin-Jones refers Stent specimens to the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL). These are dealt with by Ms Carol Richardson as duty pathologist.
4 October 1985	Mr Bee receives a laboratory report showing fungal toxin in cattle feed at Pitsham Farm.
1986	The Feeding Stuffs Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/177) implement EC Directives relating to additives in feedstuffs and products used in animal nutrition.
1986	The Feeding Stuffs (No. 2) Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/1735) supersede the Regulations mentioned above.
June 1986	Dr Jeffrey diagnoses a spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala (a deer-like African ruminant in the Bovidae species group) in a UK wildlife park.
November 1986	Date given by the Southwood Report as being 'when BSE was first identified as an entity'.
27 November 1986	Wye Veterinary Investigation Centre (VIC) refers two cow brain samples from Plurenden Manor Farm (near Ashford, Kent) to the CVL.
11 December 1986	Langford VIC refers a cow brain sample from a farm near Bristol to the CVL.
12 December 1986	Mr Gerald Wells and Dr Martin Jeffrey of the CVL examine the Wye and Langford samples respectively. Both find spongiform encephalopathies.
19 December 1986	Memo from Mr Raymond Bradley, Head of the Pathology Department, to Dr William Watson, Director of the CVL, formally notifying him of the new disease.
December 1986	Dr Watson informs Mr William Howard Rees, the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), of the new disease.
1986 and 1988	R F Marsh and G R Hartsough report that they suspect a scrapie-like disease of cattle in the United States.
January 1987	Mr G Wells tells Dr Hugh Fraser (of the NPU) that the CVL is 'beginning to see scrapie in cattle'.
February 1987	The CVL identifies scrapie-associated fibrils (SAFs) in some of the brain samples referred to it.
29 May 1987	Mr Wells makes an unannounced contribution to a closed joint meeting of the Medical and Veterinary Research Clubs, presenting a short paper on the new disease.
June 1987	Initial epidemiological studies started by Mr John Wilesmith at the CVL.
5 June 1987	The CVO puts up a submission to MAFF Ministers about the new disease (although they do not receive it until after the General Election on 11 June).
8 June 1987	A paper describing BSE ('A Novel Bovine Neurological Disorder') is circulated to Superintending Veterinary Investigation Officers.
10 June 1987	Meeting at which the CVO (Mr Rees) briefs the MAFF Permanent Secretary (Sir Michael Franklin) on the occurrence of BSE.
11 June 1987	General Election won by the Conservative Party.
13 June 1987	John MacGregor replaces Michael Jopling as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. John Moore replaces Norman Fowler as DHSS Secretary of State.
Mid-June 1987 onwards	Formal contacts established between the CVL and the NPU.
June 1987	Spongiform encephalopathy recorded in a gemsbok (an African antelope) in a UK wildlife park.
8 July 1987	'A Neurological Syndrome' presented by Mr Colin Whitaker and Mr Carl Johnson to the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) at Nottingham.
11 July 1987	'A previously unreported slowly progressive neurological disorder of adult cattle' is briefly described under 'miscellaneous conditions' in the Veterinary Record (the term 'BSE' is not used).
13 July 1987	The CVO (Mr Rees) chairs a meeting with the National Farmers' Union (NFU), British Friesian and Holstein Cattle Societies and BCVA to tell them about BSE.
August 1987	Development begins at the CVL of a BSE database, created to keep track of all confirmed BSE cases.
August 1987	Dr Watson tells the British Friesian and Holstein Cattle Societies about BSE.
14 September 1987	Dr Watson of the CVL visits the NPU and speaks to Dr Richard Kimberlin, Dr James Hope and Dr Hugh Fraser about BSE. Dr Kimberlin is chosen as the main point of contact at the NPU.
24 September 1987	Big Farm Weekly publishes an article on BSE called 'Mystery Disease'. Further articles follow in Farmers Weekly and Farming News (23 October).
end-September 1987	Mr Derek Andrews succeeds Sir Michael Franklin as MAFF Permanent Secretary.
October 1987	Dr Alan Dickinson resigns from the NPU. Dr Richard Kimberlin succeeds him.
5-6 October 1987	Dr Hope and colleagues at the NPU test a BSE-affected brain, find abnormal PrP and conclude that BSE is a prion disease.
25 October 1987	The Sunday Telegraph reports an 'incurable disease wiping out dairy cows'. This is the first report in a national newspaper.
31 October 1987	Publication of 'A novel progressive spongiform encephalopathy in cattle', by Gerald Wells et al., in the Veterinary Record.
November 1987	The NPU starts the first transmission to mice experiment (the second experiment begins on 9 December).
25 November 1987	Dr Watson of the CVL gives Mr Bradley formal permission to proceed with BSE transmission experiments, in collaboration with the NPU.
4 December 1987	Lord Montagu of Beaulieu writes to Mr John MacGregor suggesting that affected cattle should not be slaughtered for human consumption, that BSE should be notifiable and that compensation should be paid to farmers.
15 December 1987	Policy meeting chaired by Mr Rees, and attended by Dr Watson, examining the current situation and results of the epidemiology studies (see below). The Veterinary Investigation Service is to take on the diagnosis role, and the CVL is to receive material from selected farms.
15 December 1987	Initial epidemiological studies completed. There is some evidence to suggest that ruminant-derived MBM is a factor in the the cause of BSE.
29 December 1987	Dr Watson gives permission for marmoset transmission studies.
January 1988	CVL transmissibility studies begin.
8 January 1988	Mr Rees chairs a meeting on BSE. Officials decide to recommend that BSE should be notifiable and that cases should be slaughtered with compensation.
14 January1988	Mr Wells presents a paper at the British Neuropathological Society: 'Neuronal vacuolation and spongiosis: a novel encephalopathy of adult cattle'.
January-March 1988	Double-checking of feeding histories of affected animals initiated; a request is sent to compounders for details of inclusion of MBM in rations fed.
February 1988	Dr Kimberlin resigns from the NPU.
24 February 1988	Submission to MAFF Ministers advocating a slaughter with compensation policy.
3 March 1988	Mr Andrews writes to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Sir Donald Acheson to inform him about BSE and seek advice on the risk to human health.
4 March 1988	Meeting in Whitehall between Mr Alistair Cruickshank of MAFF and the UK Renderers' Association (UKRA), at which renderers are informed that BSE may have a connection with rendering through transmission in feed.
7 March 1988	An EC ban on the use of growth-promoting hormones in cattle is restored by EC Agriculture Ministers despite British objection.
8 March 1988	Mr Rees chairs a meeting with the UK Agricultural Supply Trade Association (UKASTA), UKRA and the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) to discuss investigation of various processes employed in the rendering industry.
16 March 1988	Dr Watson and Mr John Wilesmith of the CVL visit Guernsey vets to advise on and discuss BSE.
17 March 1988	CMO Sir Donald Acheson chairs an official meeting at which it is agreed that there is a need for an expert advisory group on BSE.
21 March 1988	CMO Sir Donald Acheson informs Health Ministers of BSE and proposes an expert advisory group. He suggests Sir Richard Southwood as chair.
23 March 1988	Health Ministers agree that an expert advisory group on BSE should be set up.
early April 1988	Sir Donald Acheson phones Sir Richard Southwood to discuss setting up a working party on BSE.
21 April 1988	Southwood Working Party announced.
May 1988	Southwood Working Party established.
6 May 1988	Submission from Mr Rees (CVO) to MAFF Ministers recommending notification and a slaughter and compensation policy, and a ruminant feed ban.
13 May 1988	TV programme 'The trouble with Vera' shows footage of a 'mad cow'.
18 May 1988	Meeting at which the Minister, Mr John MacGregor, agrees to the feed ban and that the disease should be made notifiable with a slaughter and compensation policy.
May 1988	The Government indicates that it will introduce the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1988 (see 14 June).
June 1988	Discussions with major compounders on the timing of the ruminant feed ban.
1 June 1988	Mr Keith Meldrum succeeds Mr William Howard Rees as CVO, MAFF.
4 June 1988	Article by Dr Tim Holt and Ms Julie Phillips entitled 'Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy' published in the British Medical Journal.
14 June 1988	The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1988 (SI 1988/1039) is made, with some articles coming into effect on 18 July, and the rest of the Order on 21 June.
20 June 1988	Southwood Working Party holds its first meeting and decides to issue interim advice immediately (see below).
21 June 1988	Letter from Sir Richard Southwood to Mr Andrews (Permanent Secretary, MAFF), with interim recommendations from the first meeting of the Working Party, including the destruction of affected carcasses and the establishment of an expert working party on research.
21 June 1988	The provisions of the BSE Order 1988 come into effect (with the exception of article 7), making BSE notifiable and providing for the isolation of BSE-suspected cattle when calving.
July 1988	The DHSS splits into two separate Departments: the Department of Health (DH) and the Department of Social Security (DSS). Mr Kenneth Clarke becomes Secretary of State for Health.
7 July 1988	Decision to introduce the slaughter policy announced (destruction of all animals showing clinical symptoms that might have the disease).
12 July 1988	Mr Wells gives a presentation on the clinico-pathological features of BSE at an Animal Research Committee seminar of the Agriculture and Food Research Council (AFRC).
18 July 1988	Ruminant feed ban comes into force, to apply until 31 December 1988 while a review of rendering processes is conducted.
8 August 1988	The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Amendment) Order 1988 (SI 1988/1345) and the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Compensation Order 1988 (SI 1988/1346) come into effect. These provide for the slaughter policy and for compensation to be paid at 50 per cent for confirmed cases and 100 per cent for negative cases (with both subject to a ceiling).
September 1988	Veterinary Pathology publishes 'Spongiform Encephalopathy in a Nyala', by M Jeffrey and G Wells.
5-9 September 1988	First International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, Las Vegas, at which Dr Hope gives the seminar 'BSE: A Scrapie-like Disease of British Cattle'.
October 1988	The Veterinary Record reports the transmission of the disease to mice following intracerebral inoculation of BSE brain tissue.
10 October 1988	At the AFRC Conference in London, Dr Hope presents work on scrapie incubation time control in mice and sheep.
3 November 1988	The CVL writes to Dr Stanley Prusiner of the University of California turning down his request for samples, although materials are supplied to him the following year.
10 November 1988	The second meeting of the Southwood Working Party recommends (1) extension of the ban on ruminant-based feed, (2) destruction of milk from infected cows, and (3) monitoring of offspring of affected cattle.
14 November 1988	Letter from Sir Richard Southwood to Mr Andrews (Permanent Secretary, MAFF), with interim recommendations from the second meeting of the Working Party.
17 November 1988	First meeting of the CVL's BSE R&D Group, at the CVO's office, Tolworth.
28 November 1988	Disease made notifiable and slaughter policy introduced in Northern Ireland by the BSE Order (Northern Ireland) 1988 (SI 1988/422) and the Diseases of Animals (Modification) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1988 (SI 1988/421).
30 November 1988	Decision announced to prolong the feed ban and prohibit the use of milk from suspected animals for any purpose other than feeding to the cow's own calf.
5 December 1988	Mr Kenneth Clarke's statement about salmonella contamination of eggs.
15 December 1988	Second meeting of the BSE R&D Group.
16 December 1988	The third meeting of the Southwood Working Party expresses concern that MAFF has not yet taken any measures to ensure that the offspring of affected cattle are preserved.
16 December 1988	Mrs Edwina Currie resigns over her salmonella statement.
20 December 1988	Letter from Sir Richard Southwood to Mr Andrews (MAFF) about the monitoring of offspring of cattle affected with BSE.
22 December 1988	The Zoonosis Order 1988 (SI 1988/2264) designates BSE as a zoonosis, enabling powers under the Animal Health Act 1981 to be used to reduce the risk to human health from BSE.
30 December 1988	The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 1988 (SI 1988/2299) comes into force to prolong the ruminant feed ban and to prohibit the use of milk from suspected cattle for any purpose other than feeding to a cow's own calf.
1989-spring 1991	MAFF does not allow Professor Roy Anderson access to BSE data. He decides to concentrate on his AIDS work instead.
4 January 1989	Professor Jeffrey Almond presents a BBC2 Antenna programme on BSE.
11 January 1989	The Diseases of Animals (Feeding Stuffs) Order (Northern Ireland) 1989 (SI 1989/8) bans the use of animal protein in ruminant feed in Northern Ireland.
9 February 1989	Southwood Report received by Ministers.
27 February 1989	Southwood Report published and the Government's response announced (all recommendations have been, or will be, introduced).
27 February 1989	Establishment of the Tyrrell Committee, or Consultative Committee on Research (CCR), announced (one of the Southwood recommendations).
March 1989	The CVL starts experiments in pig inoculations.
13 March 1989	First Tyrrell Committee (CCR) meeting.
11 April 1989	Second Tyrrell Committee (CCR) meeting.
14 April 1989	The Processed Animal Protein Order (SI 1989/661) requires the registration of animal protein processors, and continues to enable authorised officers to take for testing at a laboratory samples of processed animal protein from premises where it is produced.
8 May 1989	Third Tyrrell Committee (CCR) meeting.
10 June 1989	Tyrrell Report received by the Government.
13 June 1989	Third meeting of the BSE R&D Group.
13 June 1989	'A total ban from human consumption of certain cattle offal' announced by MAFF Minister Mr John MacGregor.
16 June 1989	Pet food manufacturers impose a voluntary ban on the use of brain, spinal cord and other Specified Bovine Offal (SBO).
27-28 June 1989	National Institutes of Health (Maryland) international roundtable on BSE.
19 July 1989	Rescreening of the BBC2 Antenna programme on BSE (first screened on 4 January 1989).
24 July 1989	Mr John Gummer succeeds Mr MacGregor as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
26 July 1989	MAFF sends consultation letter on SBO ban to relevant parties.
28 July 1989	EU ban on the export of cattle born before 18 July 1988 and offspring of affected or suspected animals (Decision 89/469/EEC).
13 November 1989	The Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/2061) come into force in England and Wales, banning the use of certain SBO for human consumption.
13 November 1989	UKASTA imposes a voluntary extension of the SBO ban to all animal feed, including pig and poultry feed.
14 November 1989	The creation of a head office of the NHS at Leeds, enabling the DH to concentrate on policy-making, is announced.
21 November 1989	Fourth meeting of the BSE R&D Group, at the NPU.
December 1989	Mr Andrew Fleetwood, a Veterinary Investigation Officer, diagnoses a spongiform encephalopathy in an eland at a zoo near Wye.
6 December 1989	Dr Robert Will applies to the DH for a research grant for the surveillance of CJD.
18 December 1989	Dr Hope resigns from the NPU, effective from 31 March 1990.
31 December 1989	The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Amendment Order (SI 1989/2326) comes into force. This makes the ruminant feed ban permanent by deleting the provision which stated that the ban would cease to have effect on 1 January 1990.