UNITED KINGDOM.
BSE PROBLEMS.
The chief adviser to the government of the United Kingdom, professor Chris Higgins, has warned of a possible new wave of illness that could kill as many as 350 people.
Professor Higgins highlighted a case, where a man who was dying from the variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (vCJD), appears to have a different gene type from previous British victims.
Professor Higgins, who chairs the Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, said that if confirmed, this case could cause a new wave of deaths in the coming years involving between 50 and 350 people.
The mother of one of the victims, who died a year ago this week, is due to go to Downing Street to raise awareness of her concerns.
However there was a report in a recent edition of the Lancet, that claims that the link between eating meat and the disease is at best only suspected and far from proved.
This report while being most concerning, has the hallmarks of Edwina Curry, when Minister of Health, advised the public not to eat eggs, for fear of contracting salmonella.
The effect on the poultry farmers of England was devastating for many months.
