Broken Britain’s death-dealing culture of denial, delay and deceit exposed: from government-imposed sheep dips to the infected blood scandal

From the 1970’s until the late 1980’s it was compulsory for farmers in the UK to dip sheep twice a year with OPs (12). Many farmers who used the regulation sheep dip were later diagnosed with chronic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (Inside Conveyancing).

See http://www.sheepdipsufferers.uk/Contact_us.htm

Richard Bruce, whose health was seriously affected by organophosphate poisoning while working as a farm manager many years ago, now spends time raising awareness about the dangers that can be presented by organophosphate pesticide exposure, and how difficult it can be to seek medical treatment after the fact (Technology Networks).

He wrote: “The reality is that when the public come knocking on the doors of this Chamber seeking justice the Government only ever answers when they have no options left”.

He cited cases involving asbestos, thalidomide, Gulf War Syndrome, Aerotoxic Syndrome, OP poisoning, Covid, vaccine damage, breast and mesh implants, pesticides, radiation, fluoride, mercury, lead and sewage pollution, commenting:

“Always the system protects itself and cares not a jot for the health of the population” 

 “Scandals were in plain sight for decades while governments played for time”

Though Robert Shrimsley’s FT report mentioned the sadness of the health secretary in 1987 at the harrowing stories of the haemophiliacs who caught HIV from transfusions of infected blood, he notes that it took 25 years for his successor to report the Treasury’s blocking tactics adopted for fear of the cost of compensation (Factor 8 scandal).

While Great Britain was denying responsibility, hiding the truth and doing all it could to avoid paying compensation other countries were more honourable:

• Canada set up a Royal Commission in 1993 and
• Ireland established a tribunal and compensation scheme in 1997
• and France prosecuted its premier, ministers and officials in 1999.

Sir Brian Langstaff: ‘This disaster was not an accident.’ (Guardian)

Shrimsley regarded this ‘episode’, recorded in The Langstaff reports as the worst of many episodes, from the Post Office prosecutions to the Windrush affair, highlighting defensiveness, denial and delay and years of deceit, destruction of documents and indifference as the NHS, department of health officials, ministers and prime ministers closed ranks.

The reports found that their actions were driven by a wish to avoid exposing the NHS to legal liability and, above all, the desire to save money.

He pointed out that in 2020, even when it was clear that a public inquiry forced after 22 Conservatives rebelled would lead to a compensation scheme, ministers continued to delay, pushing the costs into another year and perhaps another government.

He notes that similar patterns were seen in the case of the sub-postmasters: Post Office leaders suppressed information and the ‘walls of obstruction’ were only breached by investigative journalism, individual MPs and — in the case of the Post Office — a TV dramatisation.

A 2021 report into a decades-old murder case found that senior Metropolitan Police officers also had obstructed the new inquiry to safeguard the force’s reputation. Shrimsley (right) comments that when the state gets something wrong:

“An institutional defensiveness kicks in until the failure can no longer be denied. Money must be saved, accountability must be dodged, faith in the institution cannot be jeopardised”

Many, including shepherds, pilots, farmers and soldiers, have also suffered from what Langstaff describes as an institutional groupthink which hides the truth “to save face and to save expense”.

Shrimsley concludes that the Langstaff recommendations might help but adds: “This is a battle with a culture which has not altered in decades”.

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Next post: Government researchers say their warnings and calls for tougher action on lead leaking from thousands of disused British mines have either been ignored or buried – though any level of exposure to lead in water or through the food chain has a devastating impact on almost every organ in the human body.

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