1985, APRIL Colin Whitaker, a local veterinarian, visits a dairy herd of Holsteins on a farm in Kent to examine a cow behaving madly. The first such case.

1986, NOVEMBER the first official diagnosis of SSE, a neurodegenerative condition in which the brain is riddled with holes like a sponge.

1987, OCTOBER the Veterinary Record reports the appearance of BSE in four cattle herds, the first public reference.

1988, APRIL after the source of the outbreak is traced to cattle feed, the government convenes a panel of experts that reports "it is most unlikely that SSE will have any implications on human health."

JULY ban on the use of animal waste in cattle feed.

AUGUST the government orders the slaughter of infected cattle.

1989, JUNE Bovine Offal Regulation is proposed by the government banning brain, spinal cord, thymus, spleen and tonsils from human consumption. It does not come into force until November.

1990, MARCH European Commission bans exports from Britain to the Continent of cattle over six months old.

MAY because of the BSE epidemic, a National Creutzfeldt-Jacob Surveillance Unit is created to identify changes in CJD patterns that might indicate an association with BSE. Agriculture Minister John Gummer demonstrates government confidence in beef when he poses with his young daughter eating a hamburger.

SEPTEMBER ban on using cows' brains and spinal cords in animal feed.

1993 100 000 BSE cases identified

1994 CJD figures begin to rise. Six cases of a new variant of the disease are diagnosed.

1995 first deaths from new variant CJD. Four more cases diagnosed.

1996, MARCH 8 Dr. Rob Will of the CJD Surveillance Unit says that findings pointing to a possible link between BSE in cattle and the new CJD in humans have been recorded.

MARCH 15 Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg and Health Minister Stephen Dorrell are briefed.

MARCH 20 the Health Minister tells the House of Commons that "the most likely explanation" for 10 fatalities from a new CJD variant was "exposure to BSE before the offal ban in 1989. Douglas Hogg tells the house that despite the small risk, "British beef can be eaten with confidence."

Beef prices plummet. So do sales. Some call for the destruction of all 11.8 million cattle in England, Scotland and Wales, worth perhaps $12 billion.

McDonald's and Burger King announce they are switching to non-British beef.

Most of Britain's European Union partners institute unilateral bans on British beef.

MARCH 27 the European Commission imposes a ban on exports of all live cattle, beef and derivatives.

MAY the E.U.'s veterinary committee refuses to undertake a gradual removal of the ban. John Major threatens a policy of 'non-cooperation" with Europe

1997, MAY elections in Britain bring in a Labour government more eager to work with Europe. Nonetheless, the ban remains in place.

NOVEMBER 30 an inquiry is ordered into the screening system for organ donors. Marion Hamilton had died of lung cancer in February, but wary doctors sent her brain tissue to be examined by the CJD Surveillance Unit where the presence of the disease was confirmed. Despite the investigation, her eye tissue had been donated to three patients before CJD had been confirmed.

DECEMBER 2 SEAC tells the government it has reviewed new evidence that infectivity has been found in nerve tissues within the spinal columns of BSE infected, animals and that infectivity may also occur in bone marrow.

DECEMBER 3 Agriculture Minister, Jack Cunningham announces a plan to ban the sale of all beef on the bone.