News in Brief
Renewed alarm over the threat of Mad Cow Disease has been raised.
It has emerged that a young woman has contracted the new CJD strain linked to cattle, after being a strict vegetarian for 12 years.
Clare Tomkin's case is puzzling scientists due to the fact the she became a vegetarian in 1985, a year before the first cases of BSE were detected in cattle. This has lead to fears that the incubation period of the disease is longer than has been thought.
Professor John Pattison, chairman of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory
Committee which helps shape Government policy on CJD, said: "I don't think it invalidates our thinking at the moment which is that new variant CJD was probably caused by infected animal tissue prior to the offal ban."
Another Labour MP has added his criticism of his party colleagues for insensitive treatment, following the suicide of the Labour MP, Gordon McMaster. The MP Liverpool West Derby, Robert Wareing, said that he felt "suicidal" after claims that he had covert links with a front organisation for the Bosnian
Serbs. Mr Wareing was cleared of the allegations, but was suspended from the House for a week for failing to register £6,000 that he received from the company. He said that he wrote to the Prime Minister and the Chief Whip, Nick Brown, telling them how desperate he felt - but they failed to reply. Downing Street said that Mr Wareing's letter had been acknowledged in the usual way, and that a fuller reply would be sent when Mr Blair returns from his holiday.
More women are smoking during pregnancy because they do not believe it is a danger to themselves or the baby, according to research by the Health Education Authority.
In 1996, 32% of pregnant women were regular smokers compared with 29% in 1995 despite it being linked with an increased risk of ectopic
pregnancy, low birth weight, increased risk of miscarriage and sudden infant
death syndrome.
More than half of women said they continued smoking during pregnancy through
habit and more than a third cited addiction as the main reason for not
quitting.
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