'Mad cow' scare threatens political link between food and agriculture

摘要

A decade of ministerial denials ended abruptly last week when the British government reluctantly acknowledged a possible link between consuming beef infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in humans. The government continues to insist that British beef can be eaten with "confidence", and that the risk of contracting CJD remains "extremely unlikely". But the crisis in public confidence caused by last week's announcement has already prompted calls for changes in the structure of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), as well as the way that its research is linked to public policy deci- sions. Both follow suggestions that MAFF cannot represent both the beef industry and consumers.