AN East Lancashire-based expert on Mad Cow disease was today telling MPs of his fears over a possible link with a human brain condition.

Burnley General Hospital microbiologist Stephen Dealler was giving evidence to a special joint meeting of the House of Commons select committee on agriculture and health.

The meeting is one of a series following the revelation that scientists in Edinburgh had established a link between Mad Cow disease (BSE) and the human brain disease CJD.

As John Major and his Cabinet today asserted their determination to go ahead with a European Court challenge to the export ban, Doctor Dealler was one of the key witnesses at the joint committee meeting. One of the leading microbiologists to express concern about the possibility of an epidemic of CJD as a result of BSE, he was one of six witnesses before the committee this morning.

Today Tory chairman Dr Brian Mawhinney said the Government remained determined to challenge the Euro ban on British beef, despite a statement from European Commission spokesman Gerard Kiely that any such challenge would be bitterly fought in the courts by the commission.

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