BMJ 1996;312:1038 (20 April)

Letters

Advisory committee's conclusion was based on "absence of any credible alternative"

EDITOR,--On 20 March the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee in Britain issued a statement regarding 10 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that showed a previously unrecognised and consistent pattern of disease.1 The committee concluded: "in the absence of any credible alternative the most likely explanation at present is that these cases are linked to exposure to BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy] before the introduction of the SBO [specified bovine offal] ban in 1989." How can a committee of scientists come to a conclusion on the basis of no credible alternative? Why exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and not to microwave ovens, high voltage power lines, or organophosphorus sheep dips?

These few words have caused an epidemic of hysteria across Europe and paralysed the British beef industry at home and abroad. Pharmaceutical companies are being besieged by patients concerned about the possible risks of medicines of bovine origin. For example, diabetic patients are asking . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Bovine spongiform encephalopahy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Paul Brown
BMJ 1996 312: 790-791. [Extract] [Full Text]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ