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Warnings from scientists in the late 1980s that vaccines might transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans were not passed on by the UK government or its safety committees, despite assurances to the contrary.

The news was revealed in evidence to the inquiry into Britain's outbreak of BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’. The inquiry has been hearing from the scientists who first advised the government on the implications of the outbreak.

A working party headed by Sir Richard Southwood, former professor of zoology at the University of Oxford, faced questions about its approach to risk evaluation, management and communication.

Members of the working party said they did not act under government instructions and that their report had not been delayed to avoid embarrassment. The group sought to be “fiercely independent”, said Southwood.

But he admitted that it had been cautious over the wording of its advice on the safety of vaccines, concerned that the public might boycott vaccination programmes.

The working party communicated its concerns to the Committee for the Safety of Medicines and the Department of Health. But the committee seems to have disregarded the advice, and the department failed to pass warnings to pharmaceutical companies.

In contrast, the committee and government officials seem to have been reassured by the working party's use of the word ‘remote’ to describe the likely transmission of BSE to humans. But Southwood said this had not been intended by the authors.

The working party also pointed out that it considered the potential for transmission of BSE sufficiently serious to write to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with interim advice after its initial meeting.

In a written statement to the inquiry, working party member Sir Anthony Epstein emphasized that “the existing basic scientific information was patchy”, adding that “the sudden unexpected emergence of BSE, at a time when work in the field was minimal and experts few, provides a grim warning of the dangers of letting many aspects of basic science wither for lack of funds”.