BSE Anatomy of A Crisis - bovine spongiform encephalopathy - Statistical Data Included

Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and Resource Issues, Spring, 2001 by Jean C. Buzby, Linda R. Detwiler

The U.K. government undertook policy changes aimed at eradicating BSE, preventing its transmission to other animal species, and protecting consumers of beef products in the U.K. and worldwide (Atkinson, 1999). Other measures helped cushion the U.K. beef industry from the full economic impacts of the crisis, and restore public confidence. The BSE epidemic peaked in 1992, and the rate of newly reported cases of BSE is declining (Table 3).

The E.U. rescinded its ban on English beef in August 1999, allowing exports to resume (until the outbreak of foot-and-mouth during the winter of 2000-01).

While the number of cases of BSE in the U.K. is declining, confirmed cases have risen in other European countries (Table 2). Although BSE has been confirmed in native-born cattle in several other countries, and has been identified in cattle exported from Great Britain, over 95 percent of all cases have occurred in the U.K.

No cases of BSE have been confirmed in the U.S., after over a decade of active surveillance. In fact, there have been no cases of BSE in native cattle in North America. One cow in Canada imported from Great Britain had BSE and was destroyed, along with all of its herdmates and other cattle determined to be at risk by Canadian health officials.

In addition to the financial impact of medical care, the emotional toll of this crisis is particularly high. Prior to the 1996 announcement that BSE may have been transmitted to people, the public had been repeatedly reassured that it was safe to eat beef, and that BSE was nor transmissible to humans.

This impression helped drive a public feeling of betrayal after the announcement (BSE Inquiry, 2000). Since then, concern about BSE and vCJD has increased worldwide. The mass media has emphasized the severity of the human illness by describing it as relentlessly progressive, untreatable, and invariably leading to traumatic decline and death.

Consumer fears rose even further when the media told human stories in which families of victims essentially watched loved ones "waste away." Furthermore, the media emphasized that because science knew little about the incubation period, no one could predict the eventual human toll. Consumer surveys of Europeans suggest that the BSE crisis has left a lasting impact on food safety risk perceptions, as well as on trust in food safety regulators.

The U.S. Takes Action

Given the huge and continued impact of the BSE crisis on the U.K. livestock industry and the human health impact and associated costs, the U.S. government has taken proactive and preventive measures to ensure that domestic herds remain free of BSE. Measures undertaken by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) include:

* active surveillance for BSE since 1990,

* ongoing educational efforts such as training veterinarians to recognize BSE,

* a TSE Working Group to analyze the BSE risks to the U.S.,

* import prohibitions and/or restrictions on live ruminants and certain ruminant products, and

* an emergency response plan in the event that BSE is introduced into the U.S.