A documentary on the BSE crisis and its ongoing devastating consequences, featuring Portsmouth journalist and campaigner Christine Lord, has been released on Amazon Prime. Sarah Cheverton reports.
Cows, Cash and Cover-ups? is by Partickular Films, is narrated by Eastenders and Outlander actor Ian Reddington, and revists the BSE crisis of the 1980s, interviewing experts, farmers and animal rights campaigners alongside families who have lost loved ones to vCJD.
The film investigates how materials infected by the disease entered the human food chain, including an interview with a farmer giving an insider’s view of the malpractices that took place in the UK during the BSE crisis. The film also tells the story of the victims of vCJD, including exclusive interviews with a family talking for the first time about the impact of vCJD on their lives and their experience of being refused medical treatment by the NHS, and interviews with parents and siblings of vCJD victims who have never before told their personal stories.
Christine Lord, a Portsmouth-based journalist and campaigner, whose son Andy died of vCJD in 2007 aged 24 years old, was part of the film.
In an interview for Star & Crescent in 2015, Christine said, ‘My son was killed at the altar of greed and money.’
Her campaign – Justice 4 Andy – aims to get justice for her son and all victims of vCJD and, she says, ‘is part of a broader fight for safer food and health policies and for full accountability for the victims of vCJD’.
You can watch the trailer for Cows, Cash and Cover-ups? below and see the film on Amazon Prime and Vimeo.
You can find out more about the film on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Find out more about Christine’s campaign for her son Andy at the campaign website and Christine’s blog.
