Family to sue over CJD death

Family to sue

over CJD death

Relatives of a student who died from "new variant" Creutz-feldt Jakob Disease (CJD) that scientists have linked to "mad cow" disease have won legal aid to sue the Government, writes Charles Arthur.

The announcement comes exactly a year after Stephen Dorrell, the Health Secretary, told Parliament that the best explanation for the 10 cases then known of "v-CJD" was exposure to the agent that causes bovine spongiform encepalopathy, or BSE, in cattle.

Peter Hall, 20, died in February 1996. The North Durham coroner Geoffrey Burt told the inquest that the blame lay with BSE-contaminated beef. Peter's brother John, a student,has won backing from the Legal Aid Board to take action.