Sludge Watch ==> France - 110 French teens died of CJD from contaminated hormones (corpses)

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Recycling can be a very very dangerous business.

............................................................................



http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20070410140109330C252845

France to relive its worst health scandal

    April 10 2007 at 02:10PM

Paris - Seven French doctors were ordered on Tuesday to stand trial over the 
deaths of 110 teens who developed Creutzfelt-Jakob Disease (CJD) after 
taking growth hormones in the 1980s, court officials said.

In one of France's most serious health scandals the victims, most of them 
children suffering from stunted growth, are thought to have developed the 
brain-wasting disease after being given contaminated hormones.

In the 1980s, human growth hormones - which are now produced synthetically - 
were extracted from the pituitary gland of human corpses.

The investigation launched by judge Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy in 1991 
found that at least two hormone batches, from 1983 and 1985, were 
contaminated with CJD. It also detected irregularities in the way the glands 
were collected.

'I hope the trial will help us to understand what happened'
Those facing trial include senior doctors from the France-Hypophyse 
association, which collected the glands, the Paris' Pasteur Institute, which 
used them to produce hormones, and the central Paris hospital pharmacy.

They are charged with manslaughter and aggravated fraud. The trial is 
scheduled to start late this year.

Jeanne Goerrian, whose 24-year-old son Eric died of CJD in 1994 after taking 
growth hormones and who has been campaigning for justice ever since, 
welcomed the decision to bring the case to trial.

"I hope the trial will help us to understand what happened, to prevent such 
a tragedy from happening again. Now is the hour of truth," she said.

CJD is one of a family of so-called prion diseases in which a rogue protein 
proliferates in the brain, sparking symptoms such as poor co-ordination and 
slow speech, eventually leading to forgetfulness, dementia and death.

A total of 110 people are believed to have died of the disease in France 
between 1990 and 2007 after taking growth hormones.