Plaintiffs in two damages suits over Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease contracted from human dura mater imported from Germany visited the German Embassy on Friday to seek its help in settling the case, sources close to the plaintiffs said.
In a request submitted to the embassy in Minato Ward, the plaintiffs criticized the attitudes of the defendants -- the Japanese government, the German supplier of the infected dura mater and a Japanese importer -- at settlement talks that began last month, and asked the embassy to step in.
The two CJD suits seek a combined 2.9 billion yen in compensation for 28 patients, 25 of whom have already died.
The first was filed at the Otsu District Courts in 1996 and the other at the Tokyo District Court in 1997.
On Nov. 14, the courts found the government and the firms responsible for CJD spreading in Japan and urged a settlement.
The courts said the firms -- B. Braun Melsungen AG, a German medical equipment manufacturer that supplied the dura mater, and Nihon BSS, the Japanese importer -- should have known as early as 1978 that dura mater could transmit the disease.
The government also bears responsibility as it failed to take effective measures to prevent the spread of CJD in Japan by banning the use of CJD-infected dura mater after the first case of the disease was reported in the United States in 1987, the courts said.
On Nov. 22, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said the government will try to reach an early settlement in the two lawsuits.
The plaintiffs subsequently asked the state and the firms to pay them 60 million yen each, including compensation fees.
CJD is a fatal brain-wasting disorder that causes rapid, progressive dementia and associated neuromuscular problems. It usually leads to death within one to two years.