THE BSE SAGA: A Cannibalistic Tale

摘要

The BSE crisis has generated three major sociological explanations. The first explanation emphasizes the protection of vested interests by the UK Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF), the second one the institutional shortcomings of UK decision-making, and the third one the scientific uncertainty inherent in risk societies like the UK. The common feature of these analyses is their attempt to identify the factors that turned BSE into a political crisis梬hat many call the mismanagement of the BSE epidemic (Seguin, 2000). Other aspects of the BSE saga deserve attention. For instance, the novel-like nature of the affair (Pennington, 2000), or the political consequences of the prion transformation of the research on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (Seguin, 2004). Another crucial aspect, so far neglected, is the strong moral dimension of the crisis, which largely explains why BSE has had the resonance that we know in the media and elsewhere. Concerns about transgression of taboos, notion of cow cannibalism, belief that the BSE epidemic is a form of punishment, are central components of the saga. Though they have been hinted at in scholarly accounts (Lindenbaum, 2001), no attempt has been made to investigate them in a systematic way. Such study is pressing: whereas one might expect such concerns to surface mainly in the media and other popular outlets, they pervade the scientific literature as well. Since BSE appears to be a scientific and political issue framed by anthro- pological categories, in this paper I look at it from an anthropological perspective. My aim is to show that the moral framing of BSE is rooted in two anthropological practices that exist both in 'primitive' and modern societies.