Volume 3: The Early Years, 1986-88
6. Notification of the ruminant feed ban to other countries
Initial, informal contact on BSE

6.2 On 7 August 1987 Mr Rees (Chief Veterinary Officer) responded to a question from the MAFF Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Thompson, about the extent of international awareness of BSE. Mr Rees explained that technical aspects of the disease had already been discussed at scientific meetings 'but only as one of many unrelated topics'. He informed the Minister that a short scientific communication on BSE was to be published in the Veterinary Record in the next few weeks. Mr Rees commented that the Veterinary Record was 'picked up in many overseas countries and no doubt the report will be of interest particularly to research workers. The speed with which the information will filter through is difficult to predict but it would be surprising if the condition was not being discussed in international circles within the next few months'. ¹ In a statement to the Inquiry Mr Rees's successor, Mr Meldrum confirmed that the Veterinary Record, although published in the UK, 'had a very wide domestic and international circulation'. ²

6.3 The matter was next raised when Mr Rees provided Mr Thompson with a progress report on BSE in September 1987. The Parliamentary Secretary was informed that 'a short scientific article' had been submitted to the Veterinary Record and would be published 'in the next week or so'. In his concluding paragraph Mr Rees said that 'to date there has been no international reaction to the discovery of the condition'. ³ The article by Mr Wells et al entitled 'A novel progressive spongiform encephalopathy in cattle' was published in the Veterinary Record on 31 October 1987. The clinical and pathological findings of BSE were reported but the aetiological basis of BSE was described as 'unknown'. There was no mention of a possible feed source for the disease. ⁴

6.4 It was at this time that the Government began to receive requests from other countries for information about BSE. The first was a request for information directed to the State Veterinary Service (SVS) from the Agriculture Secretary of the US Embassy. Mr Suich of MAFF's Animal Health Division reported this to Mr Thompson on 28 October 1987, adding that the US Embassy had assured MAFF that it was not 'seeking to raise barriers to trade'. ⁵ Later, on 11 November, Mr Suich told Mr Thompson that the Dutch veterinary authorities had been in touch with the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) to seek advice on diagnostic aspects of BSE in order to check if the condition existed in the Netherlands. ⁶

6.5 In October 1987 MAFF told the British Embassy in Lisbon about BSE and asked it to monitor any mention of the subject in Portugal. ⁷ In January 1988 the Embassy informed Mr Suich of the reluctance on the part of at least one farmer to purchase British dairy cattle, because of fears about the newly identified disease. ⁸ Mr Suich, in his response to the Embassy, pointed out that until then only the Netherlands had expressed any concern over BSE:

No other Member State or the Commission has, as yet, suggested that it is worthy of discussion in Brussels. As far as we know the condition has not been identified outside Great Britain . . . Despite the apparent lack of interest abroad we are well aware that the situation could change very quickly. That is why we are currently considering a number of options for dealing with BSE; these will be put to the Minister shortly. ⁹

6.6 As well as through formal requests to Government Departments and Agencies, information was disseminated through the responses to scientific enquiries from experts in other countries. In his statement to the Inquiry, Mr Wells said:

In 1988 we began to supply more BSE materials, including sections, slides, copies of published papers, photographs of clinical signs and copies of the BSE video, in response to an increasing demand for information. The supply of such extension materials was entirely demand led. Many of these requests for information were as a result of the Veterinary Record publication 'A novel progressive spongiform encephalopathy in cattle' in October 1987. The contacts were from a wide variety of people ranging from known and respected scientists in the animal and public health fields, some of whom I already knew, to students doing courses such as animal health, microbiology and meat inspection. Materials were also supplied overseas, for example, to a scientist in Italy, the South Australian Department of Agriculture, Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in New Zealand. Materials were requested for various different purposes, such as education and training, college projects, presentations and for general interest and information. The volume of requests received by the Department increased greatly throughout 1988 and on into 1989.' ¹⁰