The government last night abandoned the use of new disposable surgical instruments, which were introduced to cut the risk of human BSE spreading between patients, because they posed more of a safety risk than the old equipment.

The decision follows the death of one woman and 18 other "adverse incidents" reported since a disposable electric tool was introduced to seal wounds instead of stitching them in some tonsil and adenoid operations.

Increased numbers of patients started bleeding days after surgery. The procedure was suspended earlier this month. Government advisers think the new diathermy forceps was being used at power settings that were too high, causing tissue damage.

The Department of Health says surgeons using other single-use instruments in other types of operations are also reporting more problems, and it has decided there is less risk in reverting to reusable equipment, provided that decontamination rules are followed.

The government set aside £25m in England alone this financial year for hospitals to introduce disposable instruments and thousands of tonsil operations were delayed until they were obtained.

The change of policy will be seized on by those who believe that the government has overreacted to the threat posed by variant CJD, which has so far claimed 103 lives in Britain, although no known case of transmission between patients through contaminated instruments has been identified.

The infective agent thought responsible for spreading the disease cannot be removed by sterilisation, but the theoretical risk can be substantially reduced.