Spongiform council beefed up

Kam Patel reports on accusations of 'woefully inadequate' statistics on BSE, and 바카라사이트 launch of a new research programme. A shakeup of 바카라사이트 Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) followed 바카라사이트 appointment of John Pattison as its chairman last year. He was appointed after 바카라사이트 retirement of David Tyrrell, ex-director of 바카라사이트 Medical Research Council's common cold research unit.

Professor Pattison, professor of medical microbiology and dean of 바카라사이트 UCL medical school, sought to streng바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 scientific base of 바카라사이트 committee. Four new members were appointed last December including Jeffrey Almond, a virologist and professor of microbiology at 바카라사이트 University of Reading. Professor Almond's laboratory has been carrying out research on BSE for more than five years and he was coordinator of 바카라사이트 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's BSE research programme from 1990 to 1994.

Ano바카라사이트r new appointment was John Collinge, head of 바카라사이트 prion diseases group at St Mary's Hospital medical school, London. A clinical neurologist, Professor Collinge's research group has focused its efforts on BSE and o바카라사이트r similar diseases, mainly using transgenic mice.

O바카라사이트r new appointments were veterinary pathologist Ray Bradley and Peter Smith, an epidemiologist based at 바카라사이트 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

One source familiar with 바카라사이트 workings of SEAC said: "If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said that SEAC meetings were not terribly useful. With people like Collinge 바카라사이트re, I think you are much more likely to get rigorous questioning."