Government urged 'to listen' to experts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_992000/992743.stm

Thursday, 26 October, 2000, 16:14 GMT 17:14 UK

              Cattle first showed signs of BSE in the mid-1980s

              British scientists have called for changes to

              the government's handling of scientific advice

              following the report into the BSE crisis.

              The inquiry highlighted problems with the UK's

              policy on dealing with advice from expert

              committees and criticised the lack of

              co-ordination of research policy between

              government departments.

              Dr Peter Cotgreave of the Save British Science

              Society said: "The inquiry has stated quite

              clearly that scientific experts have not been

              given the independence to state their views.

              "There will have to be changes to the way

              scientific advice is dealt with in government.

              "The inquiry says government experts should

              be able to publish their advice.

              "If that had happened over BSE, it would have

              prevented the outrageous situation in which

              political interference from officials at the

              Ministry of Agriculture allowed them to overrule

              the Chief Medical Officer on what he was

              permitted to tell government ministers.

              Research cuts

              Dr Cotgreave also noted the report's criticism

              of the lack of co-ordination between different

              government departments over research policy.

              "The left hand neither knows nor cares what

              the right hand is doing," he said.

              "Over the last decade and a half, we've seen

              the bizarre spectacle of the Ministry of

              Agriculture cutting its research budget in the

              face of a whole host of problems, of which BSE

              is just one.

              "This culture of treating scientists as second

              class citizens, and of failing to listen to their

              advice, must stop."

              The BSE inquiry

              spanned two and a half

              years and cost £27m.

              The 16-volume report

              included a long section

              on lessons learned from

              the affair.

              The report said the

              next time a disease

              was identified which

              might potentially pass

              from animals to

              humans, a

              comprehensive review

              of all the possible infection pathways should be

              undertaken.

              This would include all relevant government

              departments and draw on whatever outside

              help might be necessary.

              In the case of all health scares a "policy of

              openness" was the correct approach, the

              report concluded.

              'Culture of secrecy'

              Scientists have spoken of a "culture of

              secrecy" over BSE where experts couldn't

              pursue their research into the disease.

              Ian McGill, a former research scientist at the

              Ministry of Agriculture, told the BBC: "There

              seemed to be a culture that there were certain

              questions that just weren't allowed to be

              asked and you weren't allowed to pursue those

              lines of research.

              "The scientists that I was working with were

              trying to get the research done and get the

              work published, but they were, you know,

              fighting a culture of not doing it."

              'Research was prevented'

              Dr Stephen Dealler, a medical microbiologist

              who presented evidence to the BSE inquiry,

              said scientists such as himself trying to sound

              the alert were "just not listened to".

              Dr Dealler told the BBC: "What happened was a

              lot of research was prevented, a lot of

              publications were prevented, and a lot of

              research took place actually inside the Ministry

              of Agriculture.

              "It was very, very difficult for this data to get

              out to people outside.

              It has emerged during the inquiry that in the

              early days of BSE, vital research was delayed

              because of rivalries between the Ministry of

              Agriculture's veterinary laboratory and another

              government unit in Edinburgh specialising in

              brain diseases.

              And when expert scientific committees were

              finally set up to advise on what action to take,

              officials and ministers left the public with

              confused messages about their conclusions.