Abstract
This paper considers the following six commonly presented claims regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). (I) BSE was caused by sheep material infected with scrapie being fed to cattle. (2) The total number of BSE cases would be 17 000–20 000 in total. (3) The disease is in a dead-end host. (4) It is not possible for BSE to enter the human food chain. (5) The risk of BSE for humans is remote. (6) The number of BSE cases is now dropping. Each claim is analyzed and found to be untenable.