British Rural Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett admitted today that scientists trying to find if BSE has infected sheep have mistakenly been testing the brains of cows.
Ms Beckett's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) admitted today that scientists trying to find out if BSE has infected sheep have mistakenly been testing the brains of cows.
Urgent inquiries have been launched into how the extraordinary mix-up was made by scientists at the government-funded Institute of Animal Health in Edinburgh.
The error was first disclosed in a brief announcement by Defra on Wednesday evening, which said only that there was a possibility the sheep material had been "contaminated" by cattle brains.
A Defra spokesman said today it was true that the tests had been carried out on cow brains and not sheep brains.
British Shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary Peter Ainsworth said the handling of the publication of the error had been "despicable" and called on whoever made the decision to be sacked.
Mr Ainsworth said: "It beggars belief that it took these scientists four years to work out that the sheep brains they were investigating for BSE were in fact cows' brains.
"This is not only a humiliating blow to the credibility of the Institute, but also a major setback to the vital task of restoring public confidence in our food.
PA