Sir: Whilst agreeing with the tone of healthy scepticism on
the BSE/CJD contro- versy, I feel that in your editorial you have been unfair to the scientists. As in any other case that rests on meagre circumstan- tial evidence, there is no shortage of experts on either side willing to offer an opinion, yet the media chose to oversimpli- fy what is really a very complex debate going on in the scientific community, for the sake of a good story.
The newspapers, radio and television seem to compete with each other in who can use a small piece of information (that we now have a few more cases of CJD in younger people) to whip up the public into the greatest frenzy. It is a process akin to making a souff16, but in Herefordshire we don't go in for fancy cooking, and none of my medical colleagues or local vets seems to be giving up eating beef.
Jonathan Sleath
The Villa, Kingstone, Herefordshire
Previous page
