vCJD victims may be entitled to millions in compensation from EU
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is this week hearing evidence in two separate legal actions being taken against the EU by farmers and the relatives of people who died after contracting the variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) from eating infected beef. Both groups are seeking compensation from the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers over their handling of the BSE controversy.
The families of Irish people who died from vCJD - as well as farmers whose herds were affected by BSE - will await the outcome of the cases with interest.
According to the Irish Farmers’ Association, more than 1,400 of its members have had to cull their herds due to BSE infection. Since 1989, there have been 1,551 BSE cases confirmed in Irish cattle, including 10 so far this year.
A group of Spanish farmers is seeking more than €22 million compensation from Brussels in the first case of its kind to come before the European courts.
The ECJ in Luxembourg yesterday heard claims by their lawyers that the two EU institutions are liable for having spread the BSE crisis across Europe. They also claim the crisis had a serious affect on the Spanish beef industry.
Spanish farmer Julia Abad Pérez said: “The damage results primarily from a lack of action, alternatively tardy and inadequate action on the part of the council and the commission which allowed BSE to develop into the most serious agricultural and food crisis to affect the EU since its creation.”
The court heard that the EU’s failure to implement a policy to prevent the spread of BSE from Britain throughout Europe constituted an unlawful act under EU legislation.
Separately, the ECJ will also today begin a hearing in a similar multi-million euro action for compensation being brought by the families of several victims who died from vCJD in France.
They will argue that the same two EU institutions made “a manifest error” in assessing the risk posed by the BSE crisis to human health. The group claims that the EU’s actions were “aimed only at protecting, in an ill-considered manner, the interests of the market and the beef sector”.
Last night, Robert Moran, whose son, Jason is one of three Irish people who have died from vCJD, said the case offered some hope to victims and their families.
Mr Moran, from Shankill in Dublin, has criticised Health Minister Mary Harney for ruling out a compensation scheme. The Tánaiste claims the State is not liable because of safeguards which the Government put in place from an early stage.
Mr Moran said: “It’s not really about money but we would like some fund to care for relatives. It’s also about holding someone accountable.”
