Government policy has failed

doi:10.1136/bmj.312.7037.1038b

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Martin Mckee,
Jennifer A Roberts,
Tim Lang

Reader in public health medicine Senior lecturer in health economics Health Services Research Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT
Professor of food policy Centre for Food Policy, Wolfson School of Health Sciences, Thames Valley University, London W5 5RF

EDITOR,—Several weeks ago two of us expressed concern about the credibility of government advice on public health.1 The issue of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has confirmed the disbelief with which some government pronouncements on public health are regarded in Britain and worldwide. If this situation is not to be repeated lessons must be learnt from three failures of policy.

The deregulatory culture in Britain contributed to the failure to regulate recycling of sheep remains until 1989, although the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution had expressed concern about this in …