Mad Cows and Englishmen

Abstract

This article examines the unfolding crisis in the beef industry during the first few days of the story becoming public, and examines the response of the British government to the crisis. It looks at the reasons why, despite prompt action by government ministers, the issue became one of massive loss of public confidence, and it draws general lessons from the beef crisis for modern health communication practice. The article argues that governments will fail to keep public confidence in public health issues unless they allow the public to judge issues on all available facts, and act in response to public judgments.