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8. Reaction
Mad cow disease becomes part of an alternative worldview, as campaigners claim cows have been unfairly blamed for the emergence of BSE.
Organic farmer Mark Purdey鈥檚 followers roll their concerns about pesticides into the public inquiry into BSE. A group of farmers who claim they were poisoned by pesticides join forces with green activists and work to get their own fears about neurological disorders in rural Britain onto the news agenda.
They fail to convince government scientists that pesticides are to blame for BSE, but their trust in mainstream science is destroyed forever 鈥� then Covid hits.
Written, presented and produced by Lucy Proctor
Last on
Thu 27 Aug 2026
21:45
麻豆社 Radio 4
Broadcasts
- Wed 1 Nov 2023 13:45麻豆社 Radio 4
- Thu 27 Aug 2026 21:45麻豆社 Radio 4 FM
Podcast
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The Cows Are Mad
The strange tale of the 1990s BSE epidemic.