A British man has died of variant CJD, the human form of BSE, just three months after he was diagnosed with the condition, his family said today.
Christopher Hargreaves (26) a printed circuit board designer, died peacefully at his home in Middlebrook Crescent, Leventhorpe, Bradford, on January 17th.
His father, Mr Derrick Hargreaves (52) today spoke of his anger that his son had died of a "completely preventable disease" that 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," said Mr Hargreaves.
"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."
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," he added.
"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. 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 British 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."
The latest death brings the total number of lives claimed by vCJD in Britain since 1995 to 105.
PA