Children `given pig cells'

BRAIN-DAMAGED children were injected with animal cells from sheep, cattle and pigs at a special clinic, putting them at risk of fatal livestock diseases, a court heard yesterday.

Professor Forrester Coburn told Glasgow Sheriff Court that use of the animal cells without proper testing was "dangerous" and that "on no account" would he do it himself. He said the risk of the children developing potentially fatal shock from the injections "outweighed any potential benefits".

The claims were made at the trial of Harvey Good, 49, who admits injecting brain-damaged children with sheep cells while working as a medical consultant to a Scottish charity but denies recklessly having disregard for their safety and injecting them without approval.

He also denies injecting children with foetal cells from pigs and cows which had not been clinically tested, proved or licensed. A mother of four, from Newcastle upon Tyne, told the court that her brain-damaged daughter, now aged seven, seemed to have made a marked improvement after the treatment. The trial continues.