When Tim Page's wife developed a chronic illness he started a campaign to warn authorities.

Like many mothers-to-be Sarah Page heeded popular medical advice when she was pregnant with her third child and drank as much milk as she could.

She thought it would be good for her. More than ten years later she and her husband, Tim, fear it was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. The Pages, from Wadhurst, are certain Sarah developed Crohn's disease, a painful bowel condition, from drinking cows' milk.

Although the Department of Health has not uncovered a scientifically proven link, the Pages fear a major medical problem is simply being hushed up while national and international politicians concentrate on BSE, which has rocked the cattle industry.

Mr Page said: "Governments have kept this matter quiet hoping it will go away. But because of antibiotics used in dairy herds the disease has just got worse."

Mr Page has lobbied the Government for the past decade on the issue of milk production and Crohn's. He has also written to US President Bill Clinton expressing fears about dairy cattle being injected with hormones.

Mrs Page's Crohn's disease is now virtually in remission. But at her lowest she suffered multiple internal ulcers, diarrhoea and fatigue. At times she had to take 28 tablets a day to ease the condition.

Mrs Page said: "Now I'm a bit better I try to think positively. But it did affect

the whole family. I want people to be able to find out more information about this because Crohn's disease makes you so ill you just can't cope with life. More children are getting it and I fell really sorry for them because it is embarrassing anyway and it would be even more so if you were young."

The Page's campaign has been strengthened by research from Dr John Hermon-Taylor, professor of surgery at St George's Hospital, linking bacteria found in milk to Crohn's disease.

Earlier this year he reported mycobacterium avium sub-species paratuberculosis (MAP), a bacteria which can lead to Crohn's, could be transmitted to humans from infected cows' milk and also pass to them through the food chain and water supply.

Mr Page said: "I know I'm on to something and it's being covered up. I know it's being covered up because it struck at the same time as BSE and the Government couldn't have two major disasters hitting the headlines."

Mrs Page's ill health started with eye problems. She then started displaying the classic symptoms of an irritable bowel condition. Mr Page said: "She kept going back to the doctors and they just couldn't diagnose what was wrong with her. It was very worrying. In the end she lost so much weight we knew something was seriously wrong.

"Because there is no history of any illness like this in the family we thought it had to have been brought on by a natural source, by something she was eating or drinking."

The Pages heard snippets of information about possible links between milk and Crohn's during debates about BSE. Mr Page said: "It got me thinking. Women are urged to drink more milk during pregnancy. "I'm just a practical person. When someone is injured or suffers from an illness I look into why it has happened.

"It has been a very long, hard struggle getting people to take an interest in this because it's an embarrassing thing to talk about. How many children have had to suffer? I want it sorted out once and for all. They have to come up with an antibiotic that can kill this bacteria."

The Pages have found Sarah's illness to be highly draining emotionally, physically and financially. but are determined to keep pressing the Government. Mr Page became so frustrated trying to make his voice heard he quit the Labour Party and joined the Wealden branch of the Greens.

He said: "There are epidemic proportions of Crohn's disease in Scotland now. I am going to keep fighting this because people with Crohn's disease don't have the strength to fight it.I have heard so many heartfelt stories from people with Crohn's disease. One woman took 20 years to be diagnosed."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health denied a cover-up and said Government working parties had studied the relationship between Crohn's and milk production and was confident a link could not be established.

She said a Government advisory committee first looked at the issue in 1992 and then again in 1998. On both occasions a link was not demonstrated.

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