Posted on 10/19/2001 11:55:37 AM PDT by janus
Oct. 19, 06:48 EDT British scientists admit mad-cow blunder
Five-year research project mistakenly tested cattle, not sheep brains
LONDON (AP) — Scientists who spent five years investigating whether British sheep could have become infected with mad cow disease admitted today they'd been testing cattle brains by mistake.
Scientists have expressed fears mad cow — bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a brain-wasting ailment in cattle — may have been passed between cows and sheep because it behaves like the sheep disease scrapie.
The government had planned to release results of tests on sheep brains by the Institute of Animal Health on today. But on Wednesday it postponed the release, saying the test samples could have been contaminated by cattle brains.
Today, officials admitted the samples were made up entirely of cattle brains.
DNA checks on the tissue revealed "the samples came from the wrong animal," said a spokesman for the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs, on condition of anonymity.
"As to how it happened, that is the question we are asking," he added.
Both the ministry and the Institute of Animal Health have begun investigations into the mix-up, he said.
The institute's director, Chris Bostock, said he was ``flabbergasted, devastated" by the mistake, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
The Telegraph quoted Peter Smith, chairman of the government's Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Group, calling it a "disastrous error."
BSE emerged in 1986 and developed into an epidemic when farmers added recycled meat and bone meal from infected cows into cattle feed.
In 1997, the government commissioned studies into whether the disease could have passed to sheep. Last month, the government said all 40 million of Britain's sheep might have to be killed if BSE were found in the flock.
Mad cow disease is believed to cause a brain-wasting illness in humans, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed some 80 Europeans since the mid-1990s, mostly in Britain.
They are believed to have developed the disease after eating meat from infected cows. The government continues to advise Britons lamb is safe to eat.
uh... can I have another government grant to fix this? please?
Scientist: "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh"
Sounds like the scientists already have it....
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