LESSONS must be learned from the "sacred cow" of cheap food which fuelled the BSE crisis, the son of one victim has warned.

Roger Onions' mother, Lucy, died from CJD, the debilitating human form of mad cow disease, in 1993.

Months of agony followed as he fought to discover her real cause of death - recorded by doctors as pneumonia and pleurisy.

Only after he contacted specialists at the CJD Government Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh, did he discover his mum's brain had been sent there for tests immediately after she died in Redditch's Alexandra Hospital.

Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round agreed to investigate. The second death certificate showed CJD as the cause.

"It's the cover-up that really sticks in my throat," said Mr Onions, who lives in Leominster.

"It's not good enough for Government ministers to say they didn't want to spread alarm.

"What are they going to do next? Not tell us about rail crashes in case it alarms people?

"They don't have the right to do that.

"If there are only 83 cases, that's one thing. But how many more death certificates were fudged?

"Someone knew my mum didn't die from pleurisy and pneumonia, someone must have known it was CJD to have sent her brain off."

He praised Lord Phillips' report into the BSE scandal, which pointed at the Government's failure to alert consumers to the risks.

"At least it looks pretty thorough - at least now there might be some finger pointing," he said.

"But I'm not looking to blame anyone. I just want to know why."

Mr Onions was forced to watch his mother degenerate from "the life and soul of the party, a real laugh" to a child-like stranger, swinging her legs as she sat in her armchair.

Six months later, the once-sprightly 74-year-old was dead.

"We are paying now for our obsession with cheap food," he said.

"Farmers need to be paid a real price for what they produce instead of, excuse the pun, this sacred cow of cheapness.

"I just hope the Government is going to listen to the experts - it's not their right to hide the truth from us."