“Coroners are blocking government plans to test tens of thousands of bodies undergoing postmortem examinations each year for signs of variant CJD, the human form of BSE. Their involvement is essential for a research programme, backed by ministers, senior scientific advisers and an independent ethical committee, to establish the long-term public health threat from the incurable disease. Although only 166 people have so far died from vCJD in Britain, scientists are seeking to find out whether many more are unwittingly carrying the long-incubating condition, posing significant risk to others through surgery and blood transfusion.”

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The Guardian, 11th February 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk