Anger over CJD victim's death

The disease affects brain tissue

A man from West Yorkshire has died of variant CJD, the human form of BSE, three months after he was diagnosed with the condition.

Christopher Hargreaves, 26, a printed circuit board designer, died at his home in Middlebrook Crescent, Leventhorpe, Bradford, on 17 January.

His father Derrick Hargreaves, 52, said the death had been "completely preventable", and that the disease should not have entered the human food chain.

"I am very angry - it's a completely preventable disease and there is no reason why anyone should die from it," he said.

I'd like them to treat food in this country as food rather than an industry

Derrick Hargreaves, victim's father

"Various administrations refused to accept there was a problem.

"They swept it under the carpet and tried to keep the population calm by saying there was no problem.

"They kept telling us it could not be transferred from sheep to cows and from cows to humans, but reports have been coming in all the time.

"It has not gone away."

Active man

Mr Hargreaves, who lives with his wife Evelyn and daughter Nancy, 28, said his son first began showing symptoms of depression in January last year.

"It's not actually until the disease is fairly advanced that it is picked up on... before that people think it is a psychiatric disease.

"We saw the doctor in September and then in October the diagnosis was confirmed as variant CJD."

Christopher, formerly an active man who had pursued body-building as a hobby, was forced to leave his job in August as his condition gradually deteriorated.

'Profit' motive

By November, he had lost the use of his legs and soon became unable to speak.

Although Mr Hargreaves admitted it would be difficult to prove that his son had contracted the fatal disease by eating infected beef, he said he wanted the Government to be more "open" about food standards.

He added: "I'd like them to treat food in this country as food rather than an industry.

"Everything always comes down to how much profit they can make - let's make money before we know it's safe - and that's wrong."

Figures in December showed there had been 113 cases of definite or probable vCJD in the UK.