THE first case of BSE was discovered in 1985 but it was more than four years before the cattle products thought most likely to act as pathways for the disease were banned for human consumption.
That crucial period provided a window for infection to pass from cattle to humans. Meanwhile, the number of cattle with BSE increased, one independent estimate putting the total in Britain between 1981 and 1988 at 675,000.
BSE was first diagnosed by the Central Veterinary Laboratory, a government agency which comes under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) in November 1986. But it was not made public until the following year when tests began to see whether BSE could be transmitted to infected cattle's offspring and other species.
In April 1988, the British government appointed a committee under Sir Richard Southwood to assess the significance of BSE. In June that year, the committee recommended that infected animals be destroyed, that milk from such animals be disposed of.
On June 21st, 1988, BSE became a notifiable disease and on July 18th, the feeding of cattle or sheep protein to other cattle or sheep was banned. It is believed that BSE resulted from cattle eating feed containing offal from sheep infected with scrapie.
On November 13th, 1989 almost 18 months after concern was expressed about the possible inclusion of cattle brains in foods such as meat pies bovine offals such as brains, spinal cords, gut, tonsils, and spleen were banned for human consumption.