DATE=10/26/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BRITAIN / MAD COW DISEASE (L-O) CQ

NUMBER=2-268479

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=LONDON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///// CLARIFIES CR 2-268473 INTRO THAT BSE IS NOT HUMAN DISEASE NAME. /////

INTRO: A report about the British government's response to the outbreak of the Mad Cow Disease is strongly critical of the former Conservative government. The report says officials greatly underestimated the health hazards of Bovine Spongiform Encephaopathy B-S-E. The human variant of the disease killed 80-people in Britain. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from London the current government has promised to compensate victims.

TEXT: The supervisor of the report, Lord Phillips, says officials during the 1980's did not knowingly lie about Bovine Spongiform Encephaopathy. But it said they misled the public by insisting the health risks were remote.

Lord Phillips blames part of the problem on B-S-E's long incubation period, which makes it difficult to detect.

/// PHILLIPS ACT ///

Nobody knows why the first cow, or cows, got B-S-E. But we believe from this single source, infection spread widely in the British herd before anyone realized that a new disease had come into existence. This happened because of a long-standing practice of making cattle feed out of bits of the cow that are not fed to humans. Offal from the cow with B-S-E probably infected the feed of many. And offal from those cattle infected the feed of many more. And, in this way, B-S-E spread rather like a chain letter and thousands of cows had been infected before the first cows were diagnosed with the disease.

/// END ACT ///

B-S-E was first diagnosed in 1986. The government started ordering the slaughter of diseased cattle in 1988 but did not admit that B-S-E could be transmitted to humans until 1996.

Lord Phillips insists the report is aimed at fact-finding, not fault-finding. He says the crisis provides valuable lessons for responding to public health hazards. The reports lists more than 160 recommendations.

/// PHILLIPS ACT TWO ///

We have advised very strongly that the public should be clearly, objectively, informed about risk. And there should not be reassurance to the public in order to avoid the fear of scares.

/// END ACT ////

The report says the fear of consumer panic and loss of valuable beef exports spurred government officials to mislead the public by insisting the human health risks were remote.

Britain lost millions of dollars in trade revenues after the European Union and other markets banned British beef exports in 1996. Copies of the report have been sent to the European Union.

The 16-volume report, which cost more than 30-million dollars and took two-and-one-half years to complete, includes testimony from more than 300 witnesses and evidence compiled from mountains of scientific documents.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown says the government is heeding the lessons of the study. He has promised millions of dollars of compensation to victims of the disease that has claimed 80-lives.

/// OPT THE REST ///

The report warns that scientists and health officials will not know the full impact of B-S-E on humans for many years.

Ironically, the report's publication coincides with the detection of new B-S-E cases in neighboring France, which still prohibits the sale of British beef products. (SIGNED)

NEB/LMK/KL/RAE