March 25 1996 – The Veterinary Committee of the European Union Bans the Export of British Beef
*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Nearly a decade after the first reported case of a strange new disease affecting cattle in the United Kingdom (UK), the Veterinary Committee of the European Union banned British beef on March 25, 1996 amid fears about the spread of Mad Cow Disease. The severity of the condition and its subsequent transmission to humans put a damper on the cattle industry in Britain for more than a decade. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as Mad Cow Disease, is a peculiar affliction that affects the brain and spinal cord of infected animals. In basic terms, a misshapen protein — referred to by scientists as a “prion” — enters the nervous system of the animal in question, then glues itself to another protein and twists it into a different, non-working shape. The process continues over time, deforming more and more tissue until the brain becomes filled with tiny holes, resulting in loss of function and death.