Families with relatives hit by vCJD, the human form of mad cow disease, will
receive compensation from a £55 million trust fund, the British government
announced last week. On average, each family will receive around £120,000.
“I hope these payments go some way towards recognising the pain and trauma
experienced by victims and their families,” says Alan Milburn, the health
minister. So far, 106 people have succumbed to vCJD. Most families have already
had interim payments of £25,000 and will now receive further one-off
payments of £50,000. If more than 250 people develop the disease, the
government…
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Life
Extinct relative of koalas discovered in Western Australia
News

Physics
The 50-year quest to create a quantum spin liquid may finally be over
Features

Technology
Backlash builds over NHS plan to hide source code from AI hacking risk
News

ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ
Hantavirus: Where has the deadly cruise ship outbreak come from?
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
Man destined to get Alzheimer’s saved by accidental heat therapy
2
Woman in cancer remission without treatment in highly unusual case
3
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
4
We have figured out a new way to send messages into the past
5
Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?
6
Honey has been used as medicine for centuries – does it really work?
7
Prebiotic chewing gum could be helpful for gum disease
8
The 50-year quest to create a quantum spin liquid may finally be over
9
Weird 'transdimensional' state of matter is neither 2D nor 3D
10
300-year-old experiment could become world's best dark matter detector