Re: Janet Hughes. The Guilty Parties.

Originally from: Bill
                        
Surely Janet Hughes must look to her lawyers for compensation for what was clearly very bad advice. Lawyers being what they are, (the second oldest profession after prostitution) , take all your money and when the money is gone they slink off like thieves in the night.

What Janet Hughes' lawyers would not have known is MAFF/DEFRA were themselves responsible for the epidemic.

The Institute For Animal Health at Pirbright, The Royal College Of Veterinary Surgeons and MAFF/DEFRA were guilty of gross incompetence for relying on tests that will not work until the animal has been infected for at least 5 days. Cattle in Dumfries and Galloway that showed clinical signs of FMD in November 2000 had tested negative and on the advice of Ministry vets were sent to Cheale Meats for slaughter. That's the probable route the disease took to Bobby Waugh's.

The above allegations have been put to Lord Whitty and Elliot Morley on a number of occasions and they have not uttered a word of denial. (There will of course be a record of the negative tests and the subsequent movement to slaughter of those cattle).

Within the last few weeks a retired Ministry vet has told me the epidemic could have originated from live vaccine tests. He has also told me that although vaccinated cattle were supposed to be incinerated it was common practice to sell them to the meat trade.

This is the modern Britain we live in.

Bill.
                        

Originally from: Susan Staunton
                        

Author wrote:
Surely Janet Hughes must look to her lawyers for compensation for what was
clearly very bad advice. Lawyers being what they are, (the second oldest
profession after prostitution) , take all your money and when the money is
gone they slink off like thieves in the night.

How right you are Bill. I have enormous sympathy for Janet, but have always heeded the words of a solicitor I worked for for a number of years (who in fact switched from litigation to conveyancing purely because she felt the former was such a nasty way to make a living):

1. Never engage in the legal process on a point of principle, but only on a matter of sound legal precedent 2. Never engage in the legal process without first assuming that the matter will be carried through to its limit by your opponent 3. Never engage in the legal process unless you want to make others very rich and yourself very poor 4. Never engage in the legal process on the back of other peoples' nebulous promises to "help you out" if you should lose because, people being what they are, they won't!!

Litigation solicitors are not interested in your passion for a cause or of the emotional turmoil you might be going through as a result, but in the business of job justification every bit as much as those reviled scientists we spoke of a few weeks back – and barristers love a case they can grandstand in. All of which is a very sad indictment of the world we live in rather than a criticism in any way of Janet's motives.

Originally from: chris stockdale
                        
Bill,
your posting of several days ago read as follows:-

"The Institute For Animal Health at Pirbright, The Royal College Of Veterinary Surgeons and MAFF/DEFRA were guilty of gross incompetence for relying on tests that will not work until the animal has been infected for at least 5 days. Cattle in Dumfries and Galloway that showed clinical signs of FMD in November 2000 had tested negative and on the advice of Ministry vets were sent to Cheale Meats for slaughter. That's the probable route the disease took to Bobby Waugh's.

The above allegations have been put to Lord Whitty and Elliot Morley on a number of occasions and they have not uttered a word of denial. (There will of course be a record of the negative tests and the subsequent movement to slaughter of those cattle).

Within the last few weeks a retired Ministry vet has told me the epidemic could have originated from live vaccine tests. He has also told me that although vaccinated cattle were supposed to be incinerated it was common practice to sell them to the meat trade.

This is the modern Britain we live in".
</BLOCKQUOTE>

 Bill,

What response to your posting have you received? Inundation or silence.

 Chris.
                        

Originally from: Bill
                        
Susan responded and I think yours is the second response Chris. You can probably guess why the Government were so keen not to have any kind of investigation into the origins of the epidemic.

During the 1967/68 epidemic a report on the origin was published in March 1968 (before the epidemic ended). The conclusion of course is well known that the shipment of 770 frozen lamb carcasses from Establishment 1408 in Argentina was to blame.

If you know any media people the origins of the 2001 epidemic would make a good investigative documentary, Panorama or the like.

All the best,
Bill.