Volume 6: Human Health, 1989-96
3. Introduction of the ban on Specified Bovine Offal
Overview of events in 1989

3.7 The ban on the use of SBO in human food was a result of a chain of events that began on 9 February 1989, when the Southwood Report was delivered to Ministers. By this time all cattle showing clinical signs of BSE were being compulsorily slaughtered, and their carcasses destroyed. Paragraph 5.3.5 of the Report stated (among other things):

• If the BSE agent were to be present in an animal, it was likely to be in the spleen and lymphatic tissues in the early stages of infection, and as the disease progressed in brain and neural tissue.
• It had been suggested that products containing brain and spleen should be labelled, to enable the consumer to make an informed choice.
• The Working Party believed that risks as currently perceived would not justify this measure.
• They noted that current regulations that required content of processed food to be listed permitted the generic terms 'meat' and 'offal'.
• The Working Party considered that manufacturers of baby food should avoid the use of ruminant offal and thymus.

The last of these points is referred to in this volume as the 'baby food recommendation'. The Report was made public on 27 February 1989.

3.8 The Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (Richmond Committee) was set up on 21 February 1989, to advise Health and Agriculture Ministers on matters relating to the microbiological safety of food and such other matters that it considered needed investigation. Although it was initially thought within DH that the Richmond Committee might consider certain aspects of BSE, it was agreed to be inappropriate to revisit the matter in the absence of new developments since the Southwood Report.

3.9 Between February and June 1989 there was growing media interest in the question of whether human food was adequately protected from possible risks associated with subclinical cattle. Against this background MAFF officials responded to concerns raised by one of the Department's junior Ministers, Mr (later Sir) Donald Thompson, and there was much discussion within MAFF, and to some extent in DH, about how to implement the baby food recommendation.

3.10 On 13 June 1989 MAFF and DH announced the Government's intention to ban SBO in all human food. Following this announcement, on 16 June 1989, the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association announced a voluntary code of practice under which its members would not use certain bovine materials of UK origin.

3.11 Also in June 1989, the Consultative Committee on Research into Spongiform Encephalopathies (Tyrrell Committee), which had been set up in response to an interim recommendation of the Southwood Working Party, delivered its Report. Paragraphs 2.3 and 2.4 of the Report noted that practical measures taken had been based on the analogy between BSE and scrapie, and that specific studies on BSE itself were needed; for the most part, instant answers would not be possible. Their Report is discussed further in vol. 11: Scientists after Southwood.

3.12 On 26 July MAFF issued a consultation document on the proposed specified offal ban, seeking views by 13 September. MAFF gave further consideration to the ban in the light of the comments received and after further consultation with independent experts and DH.

3.13 The European Commission on 28 July 1989 adopted Decision 89/469/EEC. ¹ The Decision noted that BSE could be considered to be a new serious contagious or infectious animal disease whose presence might constitute a danger to cattle. Article 1 of the Decision banned the UK from sending to other Member States live cattle born before 18 July 1988 (the date when the ruminant feed ban came into effect) or born to dams in which BSE was suspected or had been officially confirmed.

3.14 The SBO ban was given effect in England and Wales by the Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989. These Regulations were made on 8 November and came into force on 13 November 1989. Equivalent Regulations for Scotland and Northern Ireland were made in January 1990.

3.15 It is convenient at this point to note that during 1989 there were changes to the ministerial teams in MAFF and DH, as well as to the officials in those Departments:

MAFF Ministers:

• Mr John Gummer took over from Mr John MacGregor as MAFF Secretary of State on 24 July 1989.
• On 25 July 1989 Mr David Maclean and Mr David Curry replaced Mr Donald Thompson ² and Mr Richard Ryder ³ as MAFF Parliamentary Secretaries.

DH Ministers:

• Mrs Virginia Bottomley replaced Mr David Mellor as Minister of State (Commons) in October 1989; Lord Trafford was Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Lords) from July to September 1989, when Baroness Hooper took over.

MAFF officials:

• Mr Robert Lowson replaced Mr Robert Suich as Head of the Animal Health Division in April 1989.
• Mr Duncan Fry was Head of Branch C Meat Hygiene Division until October 1989, when Ms Bronwen Jones succeeded him.

DH officials:

• Dr Jeremy Metters was Director of Research Management and Deputy Chief Scientist until January 1989 when he became Senior Principal Medical Officer (Senior PMO) in MED SEB (later MED ISD), the DH Medical Division responsible for international health and scientific services. Dr Pickles, as PMO in this Division, reported to him until August 1989 when he was promoted to Deputy Chief Medical Officer and was succeeded by Dr Gerald Jones.
• Dr Diana Walford was the Senior PMO in charge of MED IMCD, the DH Medical Division responsible for (among other things) microbiology of food and the environment and communicable disease policy, until September 1989 when she was made a Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of Health Care.
• Dr Eileen Rubery was a PMO in MED IMCD, where she was responsible for microbiological aspects of food safety and aspects of CJD as a communicable disease until August 1989, when she was promoted to Senior PMO, and became head of Microbiological and Communicable Diseases Division (MCD Division).