Institutional risk and the BSE-CJD crisis

Abstract

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) also known as “Mad Cow Disease” is a chronic degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. It belongs to a family of diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) which are characterised by their unique brain pathology. Examples of TSEs found in other species include scrapie in sheep or Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and kuru in humans. The first case of BSE was reported in 1986 and the government made it a notifiable disease two years later in 1988. The first published account of BSE appeared in the British Veterinary Association’s Veterinary Record in 1987 (Wells, et. al. 1987). BSE is a relative of scrapie- a familiar brain disease in sheep. It was thought that cattle had contracted this disease as a result of a change in their feed, which led to diseased sheep and cattle remains being used in cattle feed. The infectious agent is thought to be a type of protein called a prion which is resistant to destruction. This information however came relatively late in the development of the dispute which is the subject of this paper. Furthermore, there are several uncertainties about the origins, methods of transmission and the nature of the infective agent.