About 2,400 signatures were submitted Tuesday to the Tokyo District Court, calling for an early resolution to lawsuits accusing the government of failing to contain the spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease through allegedly infected dura mater transplants.
The signatures -- which brought the total submitted to 80,000 -- were given to the court by the plaintiffs and their lawyers who are currently negotiating out-of-court settlements as recommended by district courts in Tokyo and Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, in separate cases.
The 25 plaintiffs claim they contracted CJD after receiving transplants of dura mater -- the fibrous membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord -- that were allegedly infected with CJD. The dura mater was imported from Germany and used in Japan from 1973 to 1997.