Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 231: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if the population will be informed that it can contract CJD by means other than by eating contaminated meat and that one of the components in vaccines being given to babies is the addictive substance monosodium glutamate. [24322/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The public has been alerted on two occasions about possible links between blood transfusion and vCJD. The National Haemophilia Council held a press conference on 20 September 2004 to inform the public that two cases of vCJD in the UK were possibly linked to blood transfusion. As a result of the cases, persons who had received clotting factor concentrates manufactured from blood products and used in the treatment of haemophilia were considered "at risk" of infection with vCJD for public health purposes. None of the implicated batches had been imported into or used in Ireland. On 30 June last, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service issued a press release noting that a blood donor had developed symptoms considered to be due to vCJD. It was the first such case in Ireland. The donor had given just one blood donation. Two patients were treated with different components of the donation. One patient subsequently died shortly afterwards of an unrelated underlying condition. The recipient of the other blood component has been informed and is receiving support from the hospital in question.

While a number of precautionary measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of transmitting vCJD by blood transfusion in Ireland, no universally effective measure exists to prevent its transmission. At the end of June 2005 the Irish Blood Transfusion Service reported that there had been 178 cases of vCJD worldwide, one of which was due to blood transfusion. The rest were probably caused by contaminated meat products. Some 156 of the cases were in the UK, 13 were in France and three were in Ireland. Over 20 blood donors in the UK and France were included in the cases. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has taken a number of precautionary measures since the possibility of transmission of vCJD by blood transfusion first emerged and additional measures will be introduced as they become available.

The Irish Medicines Board, which has statutory responsibility for licensing all pharmaceutical products for use in Ireland, has provided information about monosodium glutamate. Two of the vaccines used in the childhood immunisation programme contain very small quantities of monosodium glutamate as an excipient. These are the BCG SSI vaccine and MMR 11 vaccine. The board has no reason to be concerned about the safety of this level of monosodium glutamate in the vaccine.