A central conclusion of the Workers Inquiry into BSE/CJD convened by the Socialist Equality Party is confirmed by the results of two new investigations published in the October 2, issue of Nature. -- "New Variant" CJD is BSE in human form.
The investigation published by Dr. Moira Bruce and colleagues at the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh involved injecting infectious material into mice and watching their development."Mice inoculated with BSE always show the same, consistent pattern of incubation time, symptoms, and brain damage. And this is even if the infection is not from cows, but from cats or antelope infected with BSE. This `BSE strain' is also distinct from the various strains of `scrapie', the spongiform encephalopathy in sheep, and other types of CJD in humans." writes Nature.
A second investigation by John Collinge of the Imperial College School of Medicine in London strongly supports Bruce's results. Collinge and colleagues developed a method of biochemical analysis to identify strains of spongiform encephalopathy. Preliminary results were published in Nature last year. They concluded that BSE and nvCJD were similar to one another and distinct from all other known spongiform encephalopathies. The significance of these results was downplayed at the time but with Bruce's results now in, only one conclusion can be drawn: nvCJD is BSE in human form.
These scientific investigations confirm the importance of the inquiry convened by the Socialist Equality Party in May this year. To date, the Workers Inquiry into BSE/CJD has been the only forum aimed at revealing the truth about BSE/CJD. Its remit was:
To investigate the link between the BSE epidemic in cattle and the development of new variant CJD in humans.
To unravel the tissue of lies and disinformation surrounding BSE/CJD.
To uncover the source of this public health disaster.
To outline a strategy for its resolution.
Respect from scientific community
As the BSE crisis continues to grow and new evidences emerges, the Workers Inquiry is assuming greater significance among broader layers of the population and an increasing respect among the scientific community.
The September 26, issue of Environmental Health News, (the journal of Chartered Institute of Environmental Health -- CIEH), carried an article under the heading, "MAFF should have no control over BSE material". It reported that the Workers Inquiry, "has an overtly political slant but makes a number of public-health-based recommendations. In at least one case, it stresses fears also raised by CIEH Food Safety Chairman David Statham at this year's congress in Bournemouth.
"It claims that no significant steps are being taken to investigate BSE and new variant CJD and that MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) continues to have a monopoly over all infected materials.
"Burning infected carcasses in incinerators or power stations is 'an enormously risky' operation because BSE prions can survive at temperatures of 1,500deg.C, the inquiry report claims. It also says that BSE prions can survive in the environment for years.
"Cattle blood and guts are routinely sprayed on the land, as is sewage sludge, and cleaning water from abattoirs enters the drainage system. All of this waste is potentially infected with BSE, the report says."
The journal quotes Statham, who says: "I think that we would agree with the principles and the sentiments of many of their conclusions although we might not express this in the same terms".
The Socialist Equality Party convened the Workers Inquiry in order to articulate the independent interests of the working class, under conditions where those organisations that at one time claimed to speak in their interests were directly implicated in the political cover-up of the BSE crisis. As the commissioners concluded in their findings:
"There is no doubt that the political scandal surrounding BSE could have brought the government down. That it survived and was able to continue its cover-up was entirely due to the complicity of the Labour Party and the unions."
This situation has not altered with the coming to office of Labour. This month there have been rumours that Labour may convene a judicial inquiry into the BSE crisis. If this happens -- due to mounting public concern and new evidence refuting claims that British beef is safe -- it will be a damage limitation exercise by a government that has proved it acts just as ruthlessly to defend the interests of big business as the Tories ever did. All those concerned about the BSE/CJD crisis should carefully study the findings from the Workers Inquiry, take its political conclusions to heart and join the fight to implement its proposals.
The findings, together with extensive additional material, can be accessed by selecting the BSE/CJD button on the left.
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