This page will expand greatly over the next few months. Currently the only information that we have is that Frank Dobson (minister for Health) and Jack Cunningham (agriculture minister) in the new Labour Government (as of 2 May, 1997) admitted to the press on 2.10.97 in association with the Labour Party conference that they had agreed to ask the Cabinet for an inquiry into BSE. On the 22nd of December Cunningham announced to the House of Commons that there would be an inquiry under Justice Phillips. The terms of reference of the inquiry was explained on the 27th of December.
David Body
Solicitor at Owen Mitchell
St. Peters House
Hartshead
Sheffield S12 E2
0114 276 7777
(has given a large amount of his personal time to trying to push
forward the inquiry)
Important help for this group has come from:
Alan Dickinson. Retired Scientist from the Neuropathogenesis
Unit in Edinburgh
Stephen Dealler. Medical Microbiologist, researcher into BSE
Emily Green. Journalist who has followed the subject fully.
Hugh Pennington. Professor in medical microbiology, Aberdeen
University.
Mr. and Mrs Churchill. Parents of Stephen Churchill, the first
official case of nvCJD.
5.9.97 Farmers Guardian 'Biggest public failure since the Suez crisis' This was a quote of Eric Millstone, of Susssex University's science policy research unit at the major meeting organised by the Transport and General Union in the UK about how the Government in the UK should procede. The main things that seemed to come out from the meeting was that the loss of public confidence in the Government's position on food had to be restored. The Consumers Association representative showed how the population in the country no longer believed what the MAFF said about the safety of food and hence a new body had to be set up with powers to ensure the safey of food. Professor James, who had produced a document for a Food Standards Agency that would carry out this was applauded. MAFF response was that they all did not understand the real problems at the time. The main damning data that appeared in this was Millstone's description that members of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and the Veterinary Products Committee would arrive at MAFF to discuss and produce advice simply to find the minutes of the meeting already made by MAFF who had decided what the committee should advise in advance after discussion with the Minister. (I have been told this same story from other sources - Ed). This all came out at the meeting organised by the TGU and was discussed at this meeting with the need for an inquiry.
11.9.97 BBC Farming Today, 6am. Alan Dickinson interviewed about demand for judicial inquiry
12.9.97 New Statesman BSE: an open letter An open copy of the letter directed towards the Government indicating that now was the time for a judicial inquiry into BSE. It is signed by most of the relatives of patients with nvCJD and a group of scientists. Hugh Pennington (Aberdeen University, involved in E.coli157 investigations), and David Hinchcliffe MP (Chair House of Commons Health Select Committee) most noticeable.
13.9.97 BBC Colin Blakemore, new chairman of British Scientific Association backs idea of inquiry at major Leeds meeting
21.9.97 GMTV News Jack Cunningham interviewed He indicated that a judicial inquiry into BSE was being considered high up in the cabinet and that a decision on the subject would appear within a few weeks. He also said that it may still be some time before beef from England, Wales and Scotland is permitted for sale in the EC.
26.9.97 Farmers Guardian Opening of SEAC work Jack Cunningham and Frank Dobson (ministers for agriculture and health) agree that the information at the meetings of the SEAC should be made more publicly available after the data had been given to the ministers.
29.9.97 Newsnight BBC Pattison agrees that an inquiry should be useful. This followed the information showing that nvCJD was the same strain of disease as BSE.
3.10.97 Announcement that Cunningham and Dobson agree that an inquiry into BSE should go ahead. This took place at the Labour Party Conference.
15.11.97 It was becoming realised that although the rest of the cabinet wanted an inquiry in a judicial format, it was the inner cabinet that perhaps did not. The reason that leaked out was simply because of the potential costs to the Treasury should the blame for BSE fall fully on the mishandling of the affairy by the government in the past.
28.11.97 Replies to letters sent to Brown, Cunningham, Dobson and Blair were replied to by a civil servant at the DofH.
4.12.97 Announcement that the government would present the inquiry to the House of Commons before Christmas.
11.12.97 Channel 4: Dispatches 'What have we been fed' was the main idea of the program; showing that we have not just been fed bovine material from infected cattle but we have also been given deliberately misleading information by Government offices. It puts over how Iain McGill, a researcher at the centre of the BSE research was basically censored and prevented from given out scientific information to external groups. It shows how MAFF were determined that his findings and those of other researchers were stopped by higher authority. It shows that research was prevented in foreign groups (and UK groups Ed) by the refusal to give quantities of bovine brain tissue (or any other tissue from infected animals) to them by MAFF. The programs puts over the idea that specific working parties aimed at advising the UK Government were not adequate to decide on the advice that was given and that they were mislead by MAFF staff working with them. It made it clear that before MAFF decisions were made they had to be agreed with the beef industry (i.e. is put over that public health was being put behind the industry when decisions were being made). McGill had quit because he could not take part in such misinformation but had been afraid to give the details out to external groups. He said that research he had asked to do (to look for BSE infection in sheep) was not funded when it was needed in 1992 and is only now being started 5 years later. The program was completely damning of the MAFF as a protector of human health from food, and showed how science findings were manipulated to give the impression to the consumer that 'everything was fine' (e.g. the marmoset monkey that died of BSE was looked on as an important result before it died and was then almost ignored). Various people (Collinge included) stated that they felt an inquiry was needed and that this should be a judicial one in order to bring the information forward.
13.12.97 Letter in the Independent making it plain that an inquiry that could not subpoena witnesses would miss a lot of data because the people in the know would be afraid to speak (Dealler)
22nd of December
22.12.97 Announcement in the House of Commons by (Dr) Jack
Cunningham, Minister for Agriculture along with a list of
information put out as a separate press release.
Main factors:
23.12.97 Independent. Missing witnesses weaken inquiry. Cunningham announced an inquiry under Justice Phillips to report within a year but gave less powers than observers had been hoping. The justice can neither subpoena witnesses nor documents and the Government has said that it will not give evidence (as ministers). Last night nobody could clarify whether this only applies to the present government ministers or whether working civil servants or former ones (such as Keith Meldrum, who was Chief Veterinary Officer throughout the epidemic) were also left out from the witnesses. (This is almost bizarre and I cannot help feeling that whoever organised the inquiry did not realise that just about all the information that would be required by the judge would need to come from inside Government sources. Due to the previous food 'scares' MAFF was determined that all of the information concerning BSE was to remain inside - Ed).
Attempts to find Justice Phillips merely found that he was out of the country and would return early in January.
Further details on the set up of the inquiry:
Further details will now be found under the Phillips Inquiry
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