During my research for an answer to a recent question about Foot and Mouth Disease, I found some interesting related information.

The new question is:

What does Bovine Scatology (BS) mean and when did Mad Cow Disease start?

Scatology: The scientific study and analysis of faeces, for physiologic and diagnostic purposes.

Bovine: The biological subfamily Bovinae (or bovines) includes a diverse group of about 24 species of medium-sized to large ungulates, including domestic cattle, Bison, the Water Buffalo, the Yak, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes.

General Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander-in-Chief, Central Command - 1st Gulf War. When Norman uttered the phrase "Bovine Scatology" in relation to a rumour story, many press reporters were puzzled by the expression. Then one Brit reporter whispered, "Ho, he means Bull Shit".

Strictly speaking, Norman could have meant "Bison Shit" or "Yak Shit" but somehow; I doubt it would have had the same impact and derisen the original statement intended.

Bovine Scatology is the polite and public way of saying Bull Shit when referring to something said or information of dubious quality.

The expression can also be used to describe a person's attributes:

"He/She is full of BS". This would indicate the person is not entirely trustworthy. Gordie Brown and his crew of clowns are often referred to in this manner.

A very famous army expression that dates back many hundreds of years:

"Bull Shit baffles brains"

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease is a story rich in Bovine Scatology.

Cattle, like most other food animals, are normally herbivores. In nature, cattle eat grass or grains.

In the late 1970's the use of meat and bone meal, produced from the ground and cooked left-overs of the slaughtering process as well as from the cadavers of sick and injured animals such as cattle, sheep, or chickens, as a protein supplement in cattle feed was widespread in Europe.

European countries like Germany required said animal by products to undergo a high temperature steam boiling process, this requirement had been eased in Britain as a measure to keep prices competitive. Later a British Inquiry dismissed this theory saying "changes in process could not have been solely responsible for the emergence of BSE, and changes in regulation were not a factor at all."

In Britain, 161 people (up until 2007) acquired and died of a disease with similar neurological symptoms subsequently called vCJD, or (new) variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm

The impact on the British Beef Export market was and still is, devastating. Tourism to the UK fell dramatically and rifts with European countries widened.

John Gummer famously tried to reassure the public by force feeding his daughter a beef burger during a live press conference. Many people blame Margaret Thatcher's government for reacting to slowly and then only with an aim to save industry and exports NOT lives.

Who's to Blame and How Have They Been Punished?

First of all, things have to be put into proportion:

CAUSING DEATH BY DANGEROUS DRIVING: PANEL PUBLISHES ADVICE TO COURT OF APPEAL ON SENTENCING GUIDELINES

The Panel recommends:

• a short custodial sentence for an offence arising from a momentary error of judgment or short period of bad driving, where there are no aggravating features;
• a custodial sentence of 2-5 years when the standard of the offender's driving is more highly dangerous, e.g. aggressive driving or greatly excessive speed, or when the offender has consumed alcohol or drugs;
• a custodial sentence over 5 years, up to the maximum of 10 years, for the most serious offences, where the offender has driven with complete disregard for the safety of other road users and where other aggravating features are present.
  http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/press_18feb03.html

That's the recommended sentence for taking ONE life by reckless driving.

The document about environmental recklessness is a little bit more forgiving:

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/environment.pdf

It seems that even IF one person was to blame for the death of 161 people (and counting) and was convicted. He/She would face a fine and a few months in prison.

As things stand the manufactures of the bone meal and various government ministers have got off "scot free". In fact, many of them reside in the House of Lords, which surely can only be second to the Houses of Parliament when it comes to the art of oral Bovine Scatology.

Who was to Blame?

Respondents to a survey pointed the finger first at industry (74.3%), closely followed by politicians (68.6%). Farmers (59.1%) and scientists (50.6%) were deemed to be much less responsible. Many Europeans (44.6%) nevertheless felt they did not have enough information to apportion blame.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/news-centre/en/soc/02-03-soc05.html

The findings of the official Inquiry into BSE published October 26, 2000 finds no one was to blame for the emergence of this crisis.

The incoming Labour government in 1997 set up the Inquiry, headed by senior judge Lord Phillips, and its two-year investigation has cost £27m.

The 16-volume, 4,000-page report he has produced does not make any criticisms of the food industry, whose practices lie at the heart of the scandal. In answer to a question at the press conference launching his report, Lord Phillips said the meat industry had come out of the crisis "relatively unscathed". He went on to describe the supermarket chains as a "force for good."

The Conservative and Labour Parties have declared a mutual political amnesty, preferring to shift the blame onto those government scientists and civil servants who advised them.

In the report itself, Lord Phillips writes, "any who have come to our report hoping to find villains and scapegoats should go away disappointed."

Who Made the Infected Feed?

This is a question nobody really wants to tackle. In the Philips report it was stated:

A single firm, Prosper De Mulder (PDM), which processed around 64 per cent of red meat waste in England and Wales and 80 per cent of poultry waste, dominates the UK rendering industry. In Scotland, William Forrest and Son (Paisley) Ltd had about 71 per cent of the red meat waste supply. The feed producers (where a near monopoly also operates) would mix the MBM with other ingredients to make the compound feeds sold to farmers. In this industry as well, the emphasis is on maximum profit for the lowest outlay.

There's plenty of other information to found on the Internet.

Personally, I'm outraged that an economic and political cover-up has been allowed to go un-question.

I and my family ate beef and lots of it, prior and during the first stages of the BSE crisis. In 1990, I stopped buying red meat for four years after watching a Panorama TV program about BSE and cover-ups.