Timeline Wednesday 20 March 1996

Events on Wednesday 20 March 1996 1

• 1996 UK Mad Cow Disease Crisis Government links BSE to fatal human brain disease, triggering global beef bans The British government announced a probable link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The European Union responded with a worldwide ban on British beef exports that lasted years. The crisis devastated the UK farming industry and prompted the mass slaughter of millions of cattle.