Re: That UK Gov Manadate thing
Likewise BSE. I strongly suspect ESR falls in the same category.
Even the popular science press was outraged at the damage done to egg sales cause by the (true) statement that (raw eggs aren't safe to eat if you are immune compromised, and should be avoided by the very old and the very young).
When BSE happened only a couple of years later, I blamed publications like New Scientist. Both for failing to support the politician over the temporary Egg Sales Collapse, and for failing to correct later.
BSE was clearly a political failure, but if it wasn't also a Civil Service failure, you're going to have to convince me that the Civil Service wasn't also traumatized by the Egg Outrage .