A TOP doctor from Burnley today claimed that scientists were poised to blow open the former government's 'cover-up' surrounding mad cow disease when the BSE inquiry resumes next month.

Dr Stephen Dealler said he believed that under close cross examination from lawyers when the BSE inquiry resumes next month, government scientists will express concerns they held long before the mad cow alert became public.

Burnley hospitals' consultant pathologist Dr Dealler, said: "I feel in evidence they will say we thought this and that and when challenged why they had not done anything about it at the time, they will reply that they could not do so because the government would not allow us to."

Dr Dealler, who claims there was a huge BSE cover up and who gave evidence to the inquiry earlier in the year, added: "I believe the previous government will be nailed at the resumed inquiry and its failings will come out into the open. "BSE is going away now, but we have to learn the lessons and be prepared for the future, ensuring mistakes like this are never allowed to happen again."

Dr Dealler, who believes a worst case scenario could eventually result in a million deaths from the human form of BSE, said farmers were misled by government policy before the alert.

"You cannot ignore the views of the scientists because you don't want what they are telling you to be true. You have to listen to them."

The public inquiry which reopens in London on June 1 will run through July and September.

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