Science and Medicine

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.

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• ▸Epitope mapping
• ▸Christianity in the United States
• ▸Greater adjutant

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