Harash Narang

Harash Komar Narang (13 January 1942 – 31 May 2008) was a British Indian microbiologist and clinical virologist. He is best known for his early and controversial research into the transmission of spongiform encephalopathies, specifically his views over the link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans, a connection he asserted years before it was acknowledged by other scientists.

During his tenure at the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) in Newcastle, Narang challenged the prevailing prion theory, proposing that the infectious agent causing TSEs was a single-stranded DNA virus he termed a 'nemavirus'. He developed a diagnostic "touch impression" technique and later a urine test, which he claimed could detect the infection in both animals and humans. Narang frequently alleged that his findings were suppressed by government officials to protect the agricultural industry, and he became regarded by some as a whistleblower over the safety of the human food chain during the United Kingdom BSE outbreak.

Narang's methodologies and claims faced significant scrutiny from wider scientific consensus. The Medical Research Council (MRC) discontinued trials for his diagnostic tests after concluding they could not be independently validated, and he was dismissed by the PHLS in 1994, which was later ruled by an industrial tribunal as being the result of funding cuts to the Department of Health. Although his theories regarding TSEs were never widely accepted, his testimony was later heard during the Phillips Inquiry, which investigated the government's handling of the BSE crisis.

Early career Narang initially trained as a zoologist studying plant parasitology, before completing his doctoral thesis at University of Newcastle in 1969.

After graduating, he worked as a researcher for the Medical Research Council (MRC) at Newcastle General Hospital from 1970 until 1977, where he retrained with a diploma in electron microscopy, and became interested in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).

Narang later recalled his concerns over cattle being fed meat and bone meal, during an inspection of an abattoir in the early 1970s. He noted the risks of scrapie, a neurodegenerative disease found in sheep, to enter the food chain.

Public research

Public Health Laboratory Service Narang joined the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) as a microbiologist in August 1977. He was granted leave in 1985, and studied in the laboratory of Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, who had won a Nobel Prize for his research into kuru, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

As the United Kingdom BSE outbreak unfolded, he subsequently revisited the institute in 1988 and 1989, and claimed to have developed a diagnostic test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). He described it as a 'touch impression technique' using electron microscopy to analyse brain surface impressions, for detecting BSE in abattoir meat. Critics argued that the test was originally developed by June Almeida and abandoned due to limited reliability.

Narang also described the infectious agent as a 'nemavirus' - a single-stranded DNA fibril with a protein coat - rather than the prion protein theory which was ultimately accepted as scientific consensus. He would go on to set up a non-invasive urine test which examined concentrated samples of urine with an electron microscope to identify specific structures and fibres. In 1989, his application for funding to help develop the technique was turned down by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF).

In 1990, Narang became one of the first researchers to argue that there was evidence that BSE could cross the species barrier and infect humans. After publishing a letter in The Lancet about his diagnostic test for BSE and CJD, his work on TSEs attracted the support of David Clark MP, the Shadow Minister of Agriculture, who raised the issue in a parliamentary debate. Newcastle businessman Ken Bell MBE also donated £20,000 to help fund Narang's research.

Disciplinary Hearings Narang faced a disciplinary inquiry into his work after staff reported a lack of safety protocols in the PHLS laboratory to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who issued a report which found a number of violations. The separate disciplinary inquiry concluded that his work needed to be peer reviewed by other scientists.

A second disciplinary action was set up for misconduct after he impersonated a ward doctor when conducting surveillance on northern hospitals for human BSE cases in the summer of 1992.

From 1993, his work was under trial at The London Hospital by three scientists, overseen by Professor Jeffrey Almond, who served as a virologist at the University of Reading and was a member of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC). The trial found no single strands of DNA. Narang later alleged that the PHLS had forced him to go there and described the findings as "a waste of time and effort".

In August 1994, he was dismissed from his position as a chief scientist in the PHLS. His case for unfair dismissal was taken to an industrial tribunal, who ruled in favour of the PHLS, as there had been a 2 per cent cut in Department of Health funding. He then worked as an independent virologist under Ken Bell International in Newcastle.

Independent research

Outbreak of the human variant (vCJD) Stephen Churchill, a 19-year-old from Devizes was the first recorded death from Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in June 1995. Narang visited Churchill's family in the wake of his death.

Following the death of Jean Wake in September 1995, it was reported that Narang's test proved that she had died of CJD. In February 1996, he again asserted a link between BSE and human Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease after the death of 21-year-old Peter Hall. Narang had been invited by Hall's parents to conduct the urine test, which indicated a positive result for the 'BSE virus', and they subsequently called for the government to conduct more tests.

During this time, Narang also joined the Northern CJD Group, a local pressure group. It was also reported that his house had been broken into, his car tyres had been slashed and the brakes tampered with.

In July 1996, Narang, along with the mother of Churchill and the parents of Hall, delivered a petition with 10,000 signatures to the House of Commons, which called for more CJD tests. Critics accused Narang (along with two other scientists arguing that BSE could cross the species barrier and infect infect humans; Richard Lacey and Stephen Dealler) of promoting conspiracy theories and scaremongering for personal gain. Narang claimed that the government had covered up the full extent of the BSE scandal to protect the beef industry, with supporters believing that testing would reveal the amount of infected beef entering the food chain.

Later that year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) condemned a newspaper report that quoted Narang as saying that milk could be infected with BSE and potentially carry the disease.

By June 1997, he was investigating the possibility that BSE could spread to birds, after reporting neurodegenerative symptoms in two hens at farms he had visited. Two months later, Richard Cawthorn, the assistant chief veterinarian of MAFF, said that upon further investigation by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), no evidence of spongiform change had been found in brain tissue samples supplied by Narang, but that there was evidence in one brain of meningoencephalitis.

In September 1997, he issued a writ, with support from relatives of CJD victims, at the High Court in London alleging that his former employer, the PHLS, had made him redundant because of his belief in a link between BSE and CJD.

Phillips Inquiry (1998–2000) The following year, he repeated his claims at the BSE public enquiry led by Lord Phillips, stating that the connection could have been established six years prior to the first recognised case in 1995, had his research not been stopped by the government. Narang also told the inquiry that at least 16 additional deaths from vCJD had taken place up to 11 years before the variant was discovered.

In 1998, Joan Leach wrote of him:

The Medical Research Council had, by August 1999, abandoned efforts to develop a reliable test based on Narang's work, to detect BSE in cattle. During the six-month trial, the National CJD Surveillance Centre in Edinburgh had supplied urine samples, but Narang had used unfiltered distilled water, which contaminated the samples with bacterial strands, which were confused with the microscopic fibres he believed were characteristic of a positive result for BSE and CJD. Afterwards, Narang continued to reassert his belief that TSEs were caused by a virus.

Following the Phillips Inquiry (1998–2000), the BSE inquiry report established that MAFF had failed to provide adequate funding and resources to support Narang's efforts to develop a test, and noted that it had worsened allegations that the government was trying to cover up the BSE crisis.

Later career Narang later worked as a senior research associate at the University of Leeds, where the trials for his BSE test had taken place.

In July 2000, Narang argued that genetically modified (GM) material could persist in the environment without being naturally broken down. He later described genetic modification as an "ecological disaster", and called for a ban on GM foods. He was one of over 800 scientists who signed an open letter addressed to governments and supra-national bodies calling for such restrictions.

During the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, Narang wrote twice to Prime Minister Tony Blair over concerns that a vaccine being developed at the Pirbright Institute was using live viruses of the disease.

Political candidacy At the 2001 general election, Narang announced that he would stand as an independent candidate for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend against the agriculture minister, Nick Brown; who he had criticised over of the handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis. His election campaign was funded by his former employer, Ken Bell.

During the campaign, he likened himself to independent MP Martin Bell, and spoke against university tuition fees. On 4 June, Narang headed a convoy of tractors through the town of Byker in the constituency. He placed fifth with 563 votes (1.7%).

Death and legacy Narang suffered a cardiac arrest and died on 31 May 2008, aged 66. He was survived by his partner, Sushila, and their son.

Following his death, Colin Leakey wrote a tribute to Narang, saying that he had been "liable to prove others embarrassingly wrong", with Leakey arguing that Narang's early discovery of 'nemaviruses' – the capillaceous structures he had associated with spongiform encephalopathies – was becoming more widely accepted, but that the term 'nemavirus' had upset conventional virologists.

In 2010, Louise Cummings suggested that, at the fourth BSE research and development progress meeting held in November 1989, it seemed that "attempts were being made to block the funding and publication of research work prepared by Dr Harash Narang".

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Harash Narang

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