Father of vCJD victim criticises Harney

THE father of one of the Irish victims of the human form of mad cow disease yesterday criticised Health Minister Mary Harney for "brushing aside" their plea for compensation for the families involved.

At an inquest into the death of Mr Robert Moran's 24-year-old son, Jason, the coroner raised the possibility of a cluster of vCJD victims.

Dublin County Coroner, Kieran Geraghty, revealed that the only three Irish vCJD victims lived or had family within five miles of each other and called for a State investigation into his discovery.

Mr Moran from Shankill, Co Dublin, said he met with the Tánaiste last September, two months after the death of his son and asked her to provide funding for the victims' families.

He said the minister told him that the State was not responsible for the deaths of the vCJD victims because of safeguards that had been put in place in 1990.

"I had asked her to put in place some form of funding for the families involved but she just brushed it aside," he said.

Mr Moran said his son, like the rest of the family, ate the same meals - meat and vegetables that came from two local supermarkets, and had never spent time in Britain.

A spokesperson for Ms Harney said the Irish situation differed fundamentally from that in Britain, where there was a compensation scheme.

"There is no firm evidence to date on the source of infection in the Irish cases," he said and added that the situation was under constant review by the relevant public health experts.

Consultant neurologist, Dr Michael Hutchinson, said that while it was likely the very first victim to die from vCJD had contracted the disease in Britain, the other two appeared to be indigenous cases.

Asked about the cluster of vCJD victims identified by the coroner, Dr Hutchinson said that while it was probably a coincidence that two of the indigenous cases occurred close to each other the matter should still be investigated even if it turned out to be unproductive.

Dr Hutchinson said it was most likely that Irish BSE was responsible for two of the vCJD cases. "Any public health concerns should be addressed," he stressed.

Dr Hutchinson said the number of vCJD cases had levelled off and it seemed most unlikely that there would be an epidemic. Ireland, however, could expect to see one or two more cases over the next 10 years.

He said experts agreed humans developed vCJD as a result of eating the meat of an animal that had Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and, as yet, there was no evidence of any effective therapy.

Q&A

Q: What is Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)?

A: It is a rare and fatal human disease that causes the brain to waste away. It was first described in March 1996 and linked with eating meat from cattle affected by so-called "mad cow" disease.

Q: What is the disease's incubation period?

A: Believed to be eight to 10 years.

Q: How are people affected by the disease?

A: Early psychiatric symptoms most commonly take the form of depression and less often a schizophrenia-like psychosis. Other symptoms include unsteadiness, difficulty walking and involuntary movements. By the time of death, patients are completely immobile and mute.

Q: What is the State doing to protect consumers?

A: The Food Safety Authority of Ireland say controls in place in Ireland since 1996 are very strict and there are robust controls to ensure maximum consumer protection in relation to BSE.