THE Philips report on BSE/vCJD has profound implications for everyone.

Because of the timescale involved in many dietary related diseases, it's vital we learn the lessons from this catastrophe, if only for the sake of our children.

For years, Viva! warned of the dangers from BSE, warnings based on the opinions of knowledgeable scientists the same scientists the Government ignored because they didn't like what they were saying. These scientists are still issuing warnings and they are still being ignored.

Lord Phillips has identified intensive farming as one of the primary causes of BSE yet intensive farming continues squalid, overcrowded units where feed is entirely unnatural and the conditions unsanitary.

The result is a string of diseases that have to be controlled, often not very successfully, with a battery of antibiotics and other drugs.

Government must act urgently on the evidence that is staring us in the face. Modern, intensive farming is unnatural, unsustainable, cruel and the seeds of another human catastrophe are already germinating.

TONY WARDLE

Deputy Director, Viva! Brighton