Volume 4: The Southwood Working Party, 1988-89
1. Introduction to Southwood
Membership and assistance

1.9 Sir Richard Southwood was appointed as Chairman of the Working Party on the recommendation of Sir Donald Acheson. In recommending Sir Richard as a possible chairman, he said:

Sir Richard is Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford and Chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board. He was lately Chairman of the Royal Commission [on] Environmental Pollution. He is Vice-Chancellor Designate of Oxford University. His scientific interests include ecology and are appropriate to the study of this condition. ¹

1.10 When writing to Sir Richard on 8 April 1988, Sir Donald said:

It seems to me that it would be highly desirable to have the group set up and have its first meeting as soon as possible. A small number of additional meetings could then be held at the end of the summer. A very brief note with recommendations is all that is expected. ²

1.11 Subsequently Sir Richard agreed with Sir Donald and Mr Andrews on three additional members of the Working Party, each with wide experience in an area that would be of value when considering BSE. These were:

• Professor (now Sir Anthony) Epstein, FRS, a virologist who had just retired from the headship of the Department of Pathology at Bristol University and was continuing research in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine at Oxford;
• Sir John (now Lord) Walton, a clinical neurologist who had just retired from the Chair of Neurology at Newcastle to become Warden of Green College, Oxford. He was the author of the then current edition of the standard text Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System and was President of the General Medical Council; and
• Dr William B Martin, a veterinarian with a broad research background and some direct knowledge of scrapie in that he had just retired from the Directorship of the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh, where he was nevertheless continuing to carry out research.

These members received and accepted invitations to join the Working Party between 9 and 18 May.

1.12 It had been suggested to Sir Richard Southwood that Dr Richard Kimberlin, who had for a short time been Acting Director of the Neuropathogenesis Unit (NPU) in Edinburgh, should serve on the Working Party. Sir Richard demurred. He was aware that the nature of the agent that transmitted spongiform encephalopathies was a matter of controversy among the experts and did not wish to have any experts who were 'almost too close to the front line to take the slightly broader view that we needed'. ³ Both Sir Donald and MAFF officials were anxious that the Working Party should have the benefit of Dr Kimberlin's experience. Mr Cruickshank advised the Permanent Secretary:

... it is important that Dr Kimberlin's advice should be available to the working group as he has a lifetime's experience of work on the scrapie agent. I would suggest that we should make it clear to Sir Richard Southwood that we expect him to consult Dr Kimberlin. ⁴

And Mr Andrews in turn wrote to Sir Richard:

I am sure however that Dr Kimberlin, even though he is not a member of your Group, would be able to assist you with valuable information derived from his many years of work on the scrapie agent. ⁵

1.13 As noted above, the CMO and Health Minister had been anxious lest the setting up of the Working Party should give the public a false impression that a health risk in man was likely. ⁶ In view of this, Mr Andrews and the CMO had agreed that there would be no need to make a formal announcement of the appointment of the Working Party. This decision was reversed as a result of a sudden increase of media interest in BSE, and the formation of an expert Working Party, to be chaired by Sir Richard, 'to study Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, a nervous disease in cattle which has been recognised in the last two years', was announced by MAFF in a press release on 21 April. ⁷ Sir Richard told us that he was determined that their Report would be published.

1.14 Assistance to the Working Party was provided by Mr John Wilesmith, whose role was to provide expert advice from his viewpoint and experience of BSE as the Central Veterinary Laboratory's (CVL's) epidemiologist. Mr Lawrence of MAFF and Dr Hilary Pickles, a Principal Medical Officer at DH, were joint secretaries to the Working Party.

1.15 Mr Lawrence saw it as part of his duty to keep his superiors informed of the deliberations of the Working Party. Similarly Dr Pickles reported direct to the CMO. She took the lead in preparing drafts of the Report and continued as secretary to two subsequent committees concerned with BSE - the Tyrrell Committee and the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC). As secretary to these committees she was adept at translating views expressed, or half expressed, at meetings into lucid papers and reports. She played an active role in conveying the concerns of the Working Party that urgent action be considered in the fields of medicinal products and environmental health. Until July 1991 she had lead responsibility in DH for BSE.