Government urged to accept swift CJD settlement

Health minister Sakaguchi Chikara on November 22 told a news conference
that the government will accept the opinions of two district courts to reach
a quick out-of-court settlement in two law suits in Otsu and Tokyo over
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry later in the day announced that it
will start talks with the plaintiffs, but stopped short of offering a clear
apology and admitting that the state takes full responsibility for the case.

The plaintiffs and/or victims, who had contracted the disease from
transplants of infected dura mater, have sought a 2.9 billion yen in damages
in the suits.

Together with their lawyers, the plaintiffs on the same day issued a
statement on the government response, saying, "We demand that the government
and the medical equipment manufacturer accept their responsibilities for
causing the CJD, and apologize to the victims. We're determined to make
every effort so that the case be settled immediately and completely."

The opinions of the courts, which held the government, a German
manufacturer that supplied the dura mater, and Nihon B.S.S., the Japanese
importer, responsible, point out that ultimately, the health minister must
fulfill its responsibility by taking preventive measures.

The opinions also criticized the government for failing to take effective
measures to ban the sales of dura mater products used in the transplants
that caused the brain-wasting disease. Accordingly, the government, as well
as the drug manufacturer and the dealer, must take measures to relieve the
victims, they stated.

Commenting on the outcome on the CJD suits, Akahata of November 23
questioned the Japanese government on why it didn't dispose of infected
human dura mater when the U.S. government immediately disposed of all dura
mater products when it faced only one CJD case.

The government's acceptance of the court opinions only came after long
years of struggle by the plaintiffs and lawyers who were backed up by the
public. The government must fully accept the courts views, apologize, and
immediately take measures so that such CJD cases and medicine-caused harmful
effects will never happen again, the paper said.

The government and related companies must accept their responsibilities
for the case, and take comprehensive steps without delay to relieve the
victims, the paper maintained. (end)