Annual report : 1997-1998 / Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee.

  • Great Britain. Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee
Date:
1998
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report : 1997-1998 / Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION 1 The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) is an _ advisory non-departmental public body appointed by Ministers and sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Department of Health (DH) to provide independent, scientific advice to Government. It has the following terms of reference: “To provide scientifically based advice to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Health and territorial departments on matters relating to spongiform encephalopathies, taking account of the remits of other bodies with related responsibilities.” SEAC currently meets regularly and advises Ministers on any measures the Committee considers necessary to protect human and animal health. Ministers decide how to respond to these recommendations and announce their response and give details of the SEAC recommendations thereafter. To date, all advice given by SEAC has been accepted and acted upon by successive Governments. History of the Committee 2 SEAC and its predecessors have been examining every aspect of spongiform encephalopathies since bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was first discovered, over 10 years ago. BSE was discovered in November 1986. In May 1988 a Working Party was established to examine the implications of BSE in relation to both animal health and any possible human health hazards and advise the Government on any necessary measures. This Working Party on BSE, chaired by Sir Richard Southwood (Professor of Zoology, Oxford), produced some interim recommendations during 1988, all of which were acted upon, and reported finally in February 1989 (‘The Southwood Report’). One of the recommendations of the Working Party was the establishment of a Consultative Committee on Research (CCR) into spongiform encephalopathies (SEs) and this was formed by MAFF in February 1989, under the Chairmanship of Dr David Tyrrell of the Medical Research Council. Its remit was to advise MAFF and DH on research on SEs, including the work in progress or proposed, additional research required and the priorities. An interim report (‘The Tyrrell Report’), concentrating on research needs into BSE, was prepared in June 1989 and subsequently published.