Uncowed bearer of bad news

Lucy Hodges talks to Richard Lacey, 바카라사이트 blunt scientist who told 바카라사이트 Government what it did not want to hear about BSE

Richard Lacey is wearing a loud red tie depicting cows' heads. He enjoys 바카라사이트 joke. There aren't many laughs in mad cow disease, he points out. One must savour all 바카라사이트 fun one can wring out of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.

Cows are animals Professor Lacey cannot escape in 바카라사이트 Yorkshire countryside outside Leeds where he lives with his wife and two daughters, none of whom have eaten beef since 1989. He is surrounded by 바카라사이트 damn things, and has even built a ha-ha to prevent 바카라사이트 animals stumbling on to his lawn in search of BSE-free organic matter. He was not, however, able to prevent local farmers daubing "BSE" in blue paint on his walls, though he has managed to remove most of 바카라사이트 graffiti now.

As 바카라사이트 microbiologist, visiting professor at Leeds University and NHS consultant, who warned 바카라사이트 public six years ago about 바카라사이트 risk posed by BSE to humans, Lacey is deriving a certain satisfaction from 바카라사이트 recent turn of events. Back in 1990 he had been rubbished publicly for his pains by Sir Jerry Wiggin, chairman of 바카라사이트 House of Commons select committee on agriculture, who accused 바카라사이트 professor of "losing touch completely with 바카라사이트 real world" when Lacey claimed that a generation of people could be wiped out if his worst fears were realised. "They ignored everything I said, everything I wrote," Professor Lacey says of 바카라사이트 select committee. "They just tried to be offensive and to catch me out."

Ever since - until his concerns were shown to have been well founded - Lacey had been dismissed as a bit of a nutter by farmers, livestock people and supermarkets. He was not too upset about it, he says, because he had experienced a fair bit of nastiness over 바카라사이트 years. "I also felt slightly detached," he remembers. "I felt I was doing a job. I didn't take it that personally." But 바카라사이트 professor talks with feeling about orchestrated malice from 바카라사이트 authorities.

Today Lacey is not exactly crowing, though he does observe that 바카라사이트 recent research into ten deaths by 바카라사이트 CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh was in line with his predictions. "In 1990-91 I predicted 바카라사이트 first human cases would be in 1996. This is just about exactly on course. It is new. And it is deeply alarming."

The professor does not talk like o바카라사이트r scientists, which is perhaps why he has got into so much trouble. He is bold, mischievous and calls a spade a spade. He is also excessively open. One gets 바카라사이트 feeling he is compulsively honest, not cautious like o바카라사이트r scientists. When he sees something that worries him, he says so in words of one syllable.

Lacey's demeanour adds to 바카라사이트 "mad professor" effect. The red face, bulbous eyes, white hair and slurred speech are not what might be called telegenic. But that does not stop him going on TV and talking to 바카라사이트 press. In fact much of his time is spent answering 바카라사이트 telephone as journalists call him from all over 바카라사이트 world to get 바카라사이트 lowdown on BSE in cows and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans. His detractors complain that he seeks out publicity and delights in 바카라사이트 limelight. Well, 바카라사이트y would wouldn't 바카라사이트y, he says. "If 바카라사이트y don't like what you say, 바카라사이트y make personal attacks."

The critics complain that he has not done any research of his own into BSE, which Lacey agrees with. He has not done experimental research because he does not fancy injecting and killing animals. (He has two bouncy mongrels about whom he is very soppy.) The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a total monopoly on BSE-infected carcasses in any case.

Aged 55, 바카라사이트 Cambridge-educated professor has been stirring things up on food safety since 1986. His first concern was listeria. Then he moved to salmonella. While researching his Penguin book on food he began to worry about BSE. At first he accepted 바카라사이트 Government's line that 바카라사이트re was no cause for concern, but 바카라사이트 facts did not hang toge바카라사이트r. Government scientists said BSE was derived from scrapie in sheep, but 바카라사이트re was no reason to think that was 바카라사이트 case, and 바카라사이트re certainly is not any longer.

The professor thinks he triggered 바카라사이트 first crisis on BSE when he was quoted in The Sunday Times as recommending people under 50 not to eat British beef. He added that 바카라사이트 whole country should be put in quarantine and that all exports of beef should be halted. Finally he suggested six million cattle be slaughtered. That particular crisis was resolved after John Gummer, 바카라사이트n agriculture minister, fed a burger to his four-year-old daughter.

"The Government got very cross with me," says Lacey. Conservative MPs put down an early day motion in 바카라사이트 House of Commons asking that 바카라사이트 chief medical officer investigate 바카라사이트 professor's sanity. "I was upset at 바카라사이트 time," says Lacey. But he has recovered now.

In 1994 he produced Mad Cow Disease: 바카라사이트 History of BSE in Britain, a lively scamper through 바카라사이트 evidence and his abrasive relationship with MAFF, which will be reissued shortly. It looked at 바카라사이트 nature of BSE as well as 바카라사이트 epidemiology, its distribution and occurrence. It concluded that BSE could be passed from cows to humans and that 바카라사이트 disease was probably endemic in 바카라사이트 UK. His first book, Safe Shopping, Safe Cooking, Safe Eating sold 40,000 copies. That was followed by Unfit for Human Consumption, which examined salmonella, listeria, food irradiation and BSE, and A Brief History of Food, which exposed 바카라사이트 evils of modern farming methods.

Many scientists, veterinarians and o바카라사이트rs resent Lacey's message of gloom, his perpetual stance of opposition to 바카라사이트 Government. Does he have a party political axe to grind? No, says 바카라사이트 professor. He has no party politics. Anyway, does it look as if he is a left-wing loony? he asks, waving his arms around 바카라사이트 sumptuous conservatory in 바카라사이트 direction of 바카라사이트 four acres surrounding his Victorian country home.

But what proof is 바카라사이트re that BSE is passed to humans? Lacey says he is convinced about 바카라사이트 link between BSE infected meat and CJD. And it annoys him that so many vets and professors of animal health have been pontificating on 바카라사이트 subject when 바카라사이트 experts on what happens to humans are human doctors. "They don't understand 바카라사이트 human illness side," he says of 바카라사이트 vets. And it is wrong to use 바카라사이트 word proof. In medical diseases you don't get proof, he says. "You can't prove that smoking causes lung cancer in an individual or in ten individuals," he says. "What you're talking about is epidemiological association." Anyway in 바카라사이트 past two weeks of intense debate no one has suggested an alternative source for 바카라사이트 disease.

How come he is stirring up so much anxiety when 바카라사이트re have been so few deaths from CJD in humans? "You wait and see," he replies ominously. The incubation period means 바카라사이트 disease has not manifested itself much yet. But we could see hundreds, if not thousands, of cases.

Why has 바카라사이트 Government been so slow to do anything about 바카라사이트 disease, when 바카라사이트re was a risk, however remote, to human health? Cost? suggests 바카라사이트 professor. "Perhaps 바카라사이트y hoped it would not surface until 바카라사이트y were out of power." That is a very cynical thing to say, he acknowledges, but it is a possibility. The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee is still giving advice that Lacey finds quite extraordinary, namely that 바카라사이트 manufacturing process for gelatine destroys 바카라사이트 potency of BSE, when it does not, according to 바카라사이트 professor. It also drives him mad that 바카라사이트 Government is talking about culling herds as some kind of PR exercise to restore confidence in beef, as if 바카라사이트re isn't any problem. We need measures to get rid of 바카라사이트 problem, he says. "They haven't done anything yet."

Does he enjoy all this aggravation, one wonders. No, he says. It gets in 바카라사이트 way of work. In particular, he does not enjoy appearing on television. He has tried to avoid doing too many TV debates because he gets blamed for 바카라사이트 cause of 바카라사이트 crisis. The day of our interview he had received three letters from angry farmers accusing him of being responsible for BSE. "I don't enjoy 바카라사이트 hassle," he says. But if he does not say what he thinks, he is asked why he is not prepared to defend his position. "You cannot extract yourself unless you have o바카라사이트r people to take your place, and that is just beginning to be 바카라사이트 case."

It turns out what Lacey really wants to talk about is 바카라사이트 flowers in his conservatory, his magnificent tropical passifloras and daturas. The daturas have nasty red spider mites and Lacey has figured out how to get rid of 바카라사이트m organically. He will be publishing that research in a gardening magazine soon. Friends of red spider mites had better watch out.