Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Part 2: Scotland
10. Chronological account of specific Scottish issues
Dissection of bovine eyeballs in schools

10.53 During 1988 Dr Diana Ernaelsteen, a Senior Medical Officer with DH and Senior Medical Adviser to the Department of Education and Science (DES), identified a potential risk to pupils and teachers from dissecting bovine eyeballs. ¹ She sent a minute detailing her concerns to colleagues in the DES in Whitehall which was widely circulated within that Department. ² During 1989 various officials discussed the issue in MAFF, concluding that the risk was remote and could be eliminated by using either porcine eyeballs or eyeballs from bovine animals under 6 months of age, by ensuring proper sterilisation of instruments used and by wearing gloves. ³

10.54 In February 1990 Mr Graham Watkin, a health and safety adviser for the Tayside Regional Council, telephoned Mr G Currie in SHHD to say that he was concerned about the safety of bovine eyeball dissection, given that the use of head products from cows had been banned. He noted that there were no regulative powers to prevent abattoirs from supplying bovine eyeballs to schools, and wanted to know whether he could advise schools in his area to discontinue the practice of dissecting them. ⁴

10.55 Mr Currie sought the views of Dr Thores (SHHD), sending a copy of his letter to Mr N R Atkinson, Principal in the Scottish Education Department (SED) branch responsible for the curriculum in schools. ⁵ Dr Thores favoured advice to schools to ban the practice. ⁶ It was agreed that a letter should go to all Directors of Education, and Mr Atkinson wrote accordingly in March. ⁷

10.56 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools (HMI) were concerned that the letter had been sent without appropriate clearance by them, the Scottish Scientific Equipment Research Centre (SSERC), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), SHHD or the Department of Education and Science in Whitehall. ⁸ Mr John Richardson, Director of the SSERC, said in a letter to the Secretary of SED that while the letter contained 'unfortunate mistakes of wording', he could not seriously quarrel with its substance:

The advice is at least consistent with what little real scientific evidence is currently available.

10.57 However, he could see no reason to abandon or restrict either bovine or ovine heart and lung material, for example, and concluded:

We strongly caution anyone against being over zealous in these matters. This is especially so when the ground on which to base advice is none too firm and the potential for real educational damage is so obvious. ⁹

10.58 The advice issued by the Scottish Office was copied to Dr Ernaelsteen among others, who subsequently copied it to Dr Pickles in June 1990. Dr Pickles had, however, been alerted to the issue in February 1990 by a Scottish Office colleague and had written to Dr Ernaelsteen and others on the subject. ¹⁰ Discussions with colleagues in HMI, MAFF and DH ultimately resulted in Dr Pickles submitting a paper for consideration by SEAC entitled 'Route of Possible Transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy to Man via the Practice of Eyeball Dissection'. ¹¹ SEAC considered the issue of eyeball dissection at their meeting of 2 July 1990. The minutes record that the Committee agreed:

. . . to advise that the . . . eyes of cattle more than six months old should not be used for dissection in schools. ¹²

10.59 Despite this advice, for reasons which are fully described in vol. 6: Human Health, 1989-96, it was not until December 1992 (33 months after Mr Atkinson's initiative in Scotland) that a letter was sent to schools and other educational institutions in England and Wales advising that the practice of dissecting eyeballs should cease.

10.60 During 1995 new research indicated that the retina of the bovine eye was infective, and eyeballs were subsequently included in the list of banned offal with effect from 20 July of that year. ¹³ On 25 July the Department for Education in England (DFE - previously DES) issued a letter to schools indicating that, as a result of the ban, bovine eyeballs would be unavailable in schools but that pigs' and sheep's eyes could be safely be used for dissections. ¹⁴ During August, the Scottish Education Department considered DFE's letter and, after consultation with Mr Richardson of the SSERC, decided that similar advice would be included in SSERC bulletins to schools in Scotland. ¹⁵