John Price
Pharmaceutical Technologies, Ltd. H.Q., Outside London, 1986
“In December 1984, cow number 133 fell ill at Pitsham Farm, near Midhurst, West Sussex.
It was unsteady on its legs, suffered from tremors and loss of appetite and displayed erratic behaviour. When it died in 1985 laboratory tests on its brain showed the strange, tell-tale pattern that is the hallmark of BSE.”
...”This delay was the first in a catalogue of mistakes that have dogged the battle against the worst animal epidemic and public health scare in British history. BSE has since killed about 179,000 cattle in the UK. Another 4.4 million have been destroyed as a precaution.“
– "The ’recipe for disaster’ that killed 80 and left a £5bn bill". Brown, David, 19 June 2001. The Daily Telegraph. London.
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Dr. Collin Holbart, CEO and founder of Pharmaceutical Technologies, Ltd., is in his office going over the latest test results from the team focused on BSE transmission vectors for some newly discovered strains. With him is the lead scientist on the project, Dr. Daniel Neumark.
Neumark came to PT Ltd from ProBioLux AG’s Berlin headquarters, where he headed a team doing applied R&D into a number of diseases involving protein mis-folding. After the ‘mad cow’ epidemic hit the UK he switched focus to the study of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), becoming one of the youngest authorities in the field. He was recruited by PT Ltd, after the company received a £4M grant from the government to help with the crisis.
Dr. Neumark, standing facing Holbart with his hands clasped behind his back, clears his throat and begins. “It has been clear for some years now that the primary BSE infection mechanism is ingesting contaminated animal protein, but the team seems to have uncovered several cases in recent data that are puzzling.”
He starts to slowly pace back and forth as he speaks.
“It seems for some strains we have studied where there is infection there is no evidence that the animals’ food had any problems.
Curious, no?”
“Any chance the team missed something?” asks Collin.
Neumark purses his lips. “Technically, there’s always that chance but I think it unlikely. I do not tolerate sloppy work from my team.”
He continues pacing, “We don’t even know how this disease originated in the first place.
Is it a mutation of a disease from a different animal that sprang from one species to another? We have know that bird disease can wandern… er, ‘migrate’, to humans and change transmission vectors.
Perhaps something is happening here as well, like this...”
Collin looks down and the report, slowly flipping pages while he thinks. “Pharmaceutical Technologies has received a great deal of money from Her Majesty’s government to find ways to fight this disease and keep Britain’s beef industry from collapsing.
Recent cases of human infection have the public absolutely terrified, but we’ve kept the population away from panic by being able to point out that the transmission vector simply being eating contaminated meat.
With the strict controls we’ve put in place around feed and the destruction of a few million cows ‘just to be safe’ we’ve barely kept this from getting out of control... ”
Flipping ahead in the document he reads, “The possibility of other vectors, including simple physical contact or airborne transfer should not be discounted...” Looking up at Neumark he asks “Do you have any idea what would happen if this got out? To the public? To the economy?
Not just that, do you have any idea what would happen to the company if we let out this information and happen to be wrong?!
Who’s seen this report?”
“I am not one to speculate on the subject of how the English react to bad news. The undisciplined responses to things I’ve seen since I arrived in this country have been, quite frankly, irritating.
The data is the data. It is not wrong. The interpretation of it may be, however.
As for who has seen the report, I have only shared it with you so far. – A few of the team helped prepare sub-sections but none have seen the whole thing.”
“We’re going to keep it that way for now!” Collin states, staring right at Neumark.
“Continue your research and give me regular updates. You and your team are bound under contract to keep business sensitive information confidential and this more than qualifies.
When the time comes and we’re sure of what we have, I’ll move to release the data through the proper channels.
Understood?”
“Absolutely. Thank you for your time, Dr. Holbart.”
“Thank you Dr. Neumark. Good day.”
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An hour later, Holbart is at his desk preparing for an afternoon meeting with company shareholders where he is scheduled to give them a preview of the upcoming annual report.
The phone on his desk rings.
“Damn it! I told Aubrey to hold my calls!” he exclaims and picks up the phone. “Hello, Dr. Collin Holbart speaking.”
“Hello Collin. Don’t blame poor Aubrey. You know that the Organization has a direct line.”
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Collin hadn’t heard that voice in over two years, but the fear that welled up in him was in no way diminished from the first time he heard it…
“Oh... Hello...”
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Insert flashback to the first encounter with the voice of the Organization…
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“Collin, we need to talk.
The Organization has read Dr. Neumark’s report and are very interested in what he and his team have started to uncover.
You will provide him and his team with all the assistance and resources they need for their research. – Do you understand?”
“I have him and several of his team slated to work on other projects in the next quarter...”
“He will continue studying the new BSE vector until we tell you otherwise and you will remain silent. – Again, ‘Do you understand?’”
“Yes...”
”I wouldn’t
plan on having him or any of his team available anytime soon. The Organization may need them to help out on a project being worked on by one of our German affiliates out of the country.
Several members of his team have industrial-scale experience that could be very useful.
This is for the best. Important work will continue and you will not be troubled with how to handle ‘messaging’ to any government authorities. I hope we have made ourselves clear.
We will be contacting you.”
The connection closed.