Coroners are refusing to carry out tests during post-mortems that would enable a better estimate to be made of the number of people carrying vCJD, the human form of mad cow disease.

The BBC reports that coroners are reluctant to do the tests because it is not their job to become involved in research. They are responsible simply for identifying the deceased and establishing the cause of death.

Given the furore over retained organs at Aldey Hey hospital and, in its wake, some public reservations about post-mortems, the coroners' anxieties are understandable. They do not want to risk the trust they have built up with the public.

But unless tests of this sort are done, the Government's advisory committee on the disease said two years ago, it will be impossible to establish how many sub-clinical cases of vCJD there are, and hence the risk of the spread of infection through blood transfusions and surgery. The Department of Health says it plans a pilot study later this year, with the cooperation  of some coroners, the NHS Bereavement Service, and the NHS Blood and Transplant's consent team. Appropriate funding will be provided, which might encourage some coroners to overcome their scruples.