Mad cows and democratic governance: BSE and the coonstruction of a “free market” in the UK

Abstract

The Conservative government elected in 1979 was ideologically committed to deregulation and removed many of the state's previously established regulatory procedures. The policy permitted important changes in the structure of the meat rendering industry and in the processes employed by it. These changes were directly responsible for the spread of BSE through the British cattle herd and lead to a rising incidence of the human form of BSE – variant-CJD. The British Government – and particularly MAFF – sought to defend the meat industry by denying – until March 1996 – both the seriousness of the BSE epidemic in cattle and the possibility of a species jump from cattle to the human population. Ministers and officials insisted that beef was safe to eat and underpinned this stance by providing misleading or inaccurate information to Parliament and the public. This deception was made possible by officials having the power to manipulate the scientific evidence and to prevent research and the publication of research findings. The British Government also succeeded in obstructing European Union directives from 1990 and in intimidating the Commission. MAFF equated the “public interest” with that of the meat rendering industry and consistently put the financial interests of the dominant firms above public health. The conspiracy of silence and the deceits employed to hide the increased risks resulting from infectious agents carried by food and the public health implications of deregulation reflect not only the broad economic and industrial policy of the then government and its agencies, but also the state's lack of independence from industrial and financial interests.