Papers of Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) material

Much of the material presented here postdates the Inquiry and was assembled by Ferguson-Smith for his continuing interest in BSE, its relation to vCJD and his theory about its possible origin from a bovine prion gene mutation.

This description is part of the main Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith collection which has been divided into the following sections, each with its own separate description:

Chronological within record series. The files described below are arranged into separate folders which contain loose pages of correspondence and other papers, reports, and articles.

Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith (1931- ) is a celebrated geneticist whose work on gene mapping has shaped our understanding of human evolution. Ferguson-Smith graduated MB, ChB in 1955 and was appointed a lecturer in Medical Genetics at the University in 1961. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1965 , a Reader in 1971, and Professor of Medical Genetics in 1973. He was also Honorary Consultant in Medical Paediatrics at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children from 1966 and in Clinical Genetics at Yorkhill and Associated Hospitals from 1973 to 1987. In 1987, Ferguson-Smith left Glasgow to become Professor of Pathology and Professorial Fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He was also Director of the Cambridge University Centre for Medical Genetics from 1989. For a complete biography see the Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith collection description.

The BSE Inquiry was announced in December 1997 and set up in January 1998, "to establish and review the history of the emergence and identification of BSE and new variant CJD (vCJD) in the United Kingdom, and of the action taken in response to it up to 20 March 1996; to reach conclusions on the adequacy of that response, taking into account the state of knowledge at the time; and to report on these matters to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland". The Members of the Committee of the Inquiry were Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers (Chair), Mrs June Bridgeman and Ferguson-Smith. It reported in 2000 (the Phillips Report) and included some criticisms of the scientific and the Government response to the crisis.