Mark Purdey

English farmer John Mark Purdey (25 December 1953 – 12 November 2006) was an English organic farmer who came to public attention in the 1980s, when he began to circulate his own theories regarding the causes of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease"). Investigations into BSE Purdey's interest in the disease was triggered when four cows he purchased for his farm developed the disease, though no animal raised on his farm ever contracted it. He also became aware of a fact also considered by the Philips Inquiry: "1145. The practice in the UK of recycling animal protein as an ingredient of animal feed dates back to at least 1926. In the 1970s attention was directed within MAFF to the danger that this practice would result in the spread of infectious diseases. The diseases considered were those caused by conventional viral and bacterial organisms. No consideration appears to have been given to the risk that scrapie might be recycled in sheep, or even transmitted to other farm animals. This may seem surprising. The answer probably lies in the fact that half a century had elapsed without any indication that animal feed containing ovine protein was infecting sheep or a