BSE report 'to criticise Tory ministers'

Victims' families will have to wait to read the report

A report into the BSE crisis which is expected to criticise former Tory ministers has been handed in to the government.

Lord Phillips, a senior judge and chairman of the long-awaited official inquiry into BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) - or Mad Cow Disease - gave the report to ministers on Monday.

The commitee's findings will not be made public for three weeks.

But former members of the Conservative government are expected to be criticised for allowing the disease to spread.

'Definitive report'

The 16-volume report, which has taken two years to compile and is based on evidence of more than 1,000 people, is the widest and most definitive report into BSE ever undertaken.

Explanations about how the disease started and why it then spread from cattle to humans are also expected to be contained in the report.

Tests were carried out on brain tissue from infected cattle

It is set to point to unnecessary secrecy and rivalry among government departments in the previous Tory administration, which meant the health risks were not published for months and, in some cases, years after they were known.

It is also expected to blame a lack of action for the continuing spread of the disease when measures could have been put in place earlier to help stop BSE passing from cattle to humans.

'Long wait'

The National Health Service will also be criticised for the treatment it gave to early victims of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD), the human form of BSE.

Sandra Galloway, of the CJD supporter group, told the BBC victims' families hoped the report would give them some answers.

She said: "Three weeks will be a long time for families who have been waiting for this report.

"The families want someone to blame but I don't think the report will point the finger at one person."

Latest death

On Thursday a fifth person died of suspected new variant CJD - the human form of BSE - in a small area of Leicestershire.

He is believed to have been a farm worker with links to the village of Queniborough, just north of Leicester.

The Leicestershire CJD "cluster" was first reported in November 1998, after it claimed three lives within 12 weeks in 1998.

The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the official body monitoring the progress of the disease, said in July there were 69 known victims of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) in the UK.

The disease can only be identified with absolute certainty after death.

"The number of cases reported now indicates a statistically significant rising trend of around 20-30% per annum to date," the spokesman said.