The parents of North Yorkshire's only known victim of new variant CJD today welcomed reports that the Government is prepared to compensate them and other affected families.
Barry Hodgkinson, whose son Adrian, a former RAF policeman, died of the human equivalent of mad cow disease in March, 1997, aged 25, said: "At last they have done what they should have done a long time ago."
Other families of victims have also welcomed suggestions that the Government is prepared to fund a multi-million pound care and compensation package, though the Department of Health has declined to comment ahead of Thursday's publication of Lord Phillips' report into the BSE crisis.
Mr Hodgkinson, of Albany Road, Harrogate, claimed the total paid out for the loss of cattle due to BSE amounted to £4 billion. "If a cow is worth that much, what is a human life worth?
"But it's not about compensation. It's a moral thing."
He said it was even more important that the Government put in place a care package for future victims of the disease.
"They should be looked after - they need special care. That must be available," he said.
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