David Peat

164 From Certainty to UncertaintyThe Political LineFrom time to time during the twentieth century quite ordinary peoplehave been swept up in a degree of paranoia. “Is the government lyingto us?” people have asked. “Who was really behind the assassination ofPresident Kennedy?” “Is it true that the authorities are flooding theghettos with drugs to keep poor people complacent?” “Is the governmentkeeping quiet about UFOs?”We may laugh when we hear stories about government cover-upsinvolving the abduction of, and experimentation on, ordinary citizensby aliens. On the other hand there have been several unpleasant casesof official misinformation and misdirection. For example, take the outbreakof mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalitis) in Britain.This disorder was first recognized in the 1980s when outbreaks wereidentified in several parts of the world. It is transmitted through cattlefeed that contains ground-up animal parts. After the disease had beenidentified, scientists became concerned that it could be transmitted tohumans who ate the meat from infected animals. There was also evidencethat the disease was present in other species, such as sheep, sothat it wasn’t sufficient to refrain from eating a hamburger or a steak;other foodstuffs could contaminate one as well. Even vegetarians andhealth food consumers were not free from risk, for many confectioneriesand other substances contain animal by-products, such as the gelatinused in candies, jellies, vitamins and drug capsules, and so on.Mad cow disease was bad enough in the United Kingdom, but thereal scandal was the reassuring voice of the British government duringthe early years of the outbreak. Measures were in hand, everything wasunder control, and British beef was safe to eat, people were told. Therewas no risk to humans. The British people should not listen to unfoundedrumors. And so when the European Community placed a banon British beef there were massive demonstrations by British farmersand threats of boycotts against European products.At the end of 2000 the results of a long enquiry were publishedand a former prime minister, John Major, was forced to make a publicapology. During that same period, it later transpired, the British governmenthad known about the spread of the disease and the risk to