ABSTRACT
The following paper was prepared as written evidence to the House of Commons joint Agriculture and Health Committees’ hearings into BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) (Agriculture and Health Committees 1997) to which I also gave verbal witness. The Committees’ unprecedented joint hearings were a disappointment. Both verbal and written evidence were published but no report from the committees was generated. This silence was regrettable and a set-back for those who argued that the Select Committee could be a useful democratic brake on Government. If nothing else, a crisis as significant as BSE surely warranted a considered set of recommendations from the all-party committees.
