The BM case calls into question the UK’s own ability to meet the threat of a bird flu pandemic, should the strains now devastating poultry stocks around the world mutate into that bigger monster that infects humans and then other humans.

So does the UK have a grand enough design against bird flu and efficient enough pandemic preparedness in place? Medical experts from the Royal Academy and Academy of Medical Sciences doubt that we are.

Not even government efforts to stockpile Tamiflu are enough to put apprehensions to rest in this matter, I’m afraid—especially not when the UK government merely shrugged at the experts’ observation and warnings, treating these as hardly more than presentiments of doom.

Complex, baffling—the government does not even seem to want to avail itself of eminent scientific advice when making critical decisions about bird flu. At best, I suspect complicity, but with what, who, and why should there be? At worst, I suspect laxness, a shortsightedness that must not be overlooked for lives are at stake.

In any case, transparency is paramount. Without it, government efforts may well just be in vain. FSA should be more transparent of its “standards” and “methods”—so that people will be reassured that its decision in favor of BM was done all right and proper.

The price we pay for this lack of transparency may well carry over to other matters. This incident does not preclude cover-ups or downplay of future outbreaks—done so as not to alarm the public, of course—when the truth is too inconvenient to be let out.