ABSTRACT
In matters relating to the health of the consumer, scientifi c evidence is of the utmost importance at all stages of the drawing up of new legislation and for the execution and management of existing legislation. 1
In 1996, hard on the heels of the enactment of the SPS Agreement, there was a food safety crisis in the EU. This was the 1996 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic. 3 BSE is a degenerative brain disease that affects cattle and is transmissible to other animals and to humans. BSE occurred for the fi rst time in the United Kingdom in 1984, and grew into a European epidemic by 1996. 4 The disease caused panic and fear among Europeans with the announcement by the United Kingdom, in March 1996, of the potential link between BSE and the new variant human disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD). 5
1 European Commission, ‘Communication on Consumer Health and Food Safety’ (COM (1997) 183 fi nal).
