vCJD cases 'on the increase'
                                                    
 The final total of deaths could be as high as 140,000 Scientists have reported
 a sharp increase in the number of cases of vCJD - the human form of "mad cow 
 disease". They also say that people living in the north of England and Scotland
 are more than twice as likely to get the disease as those in the south.

 The disease has now claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the UK, and 
 scientists say its incidence increased by 20% last year. 

 Professor James Ironside, of the vCJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University,
 told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday it was difficult to tell how the
 disease would grow in the future. 

 One possibility was that genetic factors meant people in the north were more 
 susceptible to the disease, he said. 

 Another, which Professor Ironside thought was more likely, was that northerners
 have had more exposure to the disease, because they were more likely to have 
 eaten more pies and burgers containing low-grade meat. 

 The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (Seac) has spent five years 
 asking food companies how much "mechanically recovered meat" (MRM) was used in
 the past, as they believe this type carries the most risk of passing on BSE. 

 MRM is meat residue which is left on the carcass after all the prime cuts have 
 been removed. 

 However, Seac says it has been "continually thwarted" in its efforts to extract
 information from the industry. 

 The scientific reports into the possible extent of vCJD have been welcomed by the
 Save British Science Society (SBS). 

 Its director Dr Peter Cotgreave said: "It wasn't until we had an expensive 
 inquiry that the public discovered that the Chief Medical Officer had been 
 trying to warn ministers, let alone the public, of serious risks about BSE. 

 "Pen-pushers in the old Ministry of Agriculture told him that it was 'a step
 too far' and blocked him." 

   
  See also: 09 Aug 01 | UK Q&A: vCJD risk in meat
            09 Aug 01 | Health  Meat industry attacked over CJD

  Thursday, 6 September, 2001, 11:31 GMT 12:31 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/glasgow_2001/newsid_1527000/1527851.stm


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