CJD FEAR FOR THE BURGER GENERATION; 40 Scots kids will fall victim in 10 years.

MORE than 40 Scots children could develop the human form of mad cow disease in the next ten years.

Families who have lost loved ones to the disease fear the death toll will soar as CJD hits the burger-munching generation of the 1980s.

Four Scots died in 1999 after developing the human form of BSE.

Two have already died in the first seven months of this year and a further two are critically ill.

The Human BSE Foundation, a support group for relatives affected by CJD, believe the figures set a precedent.

Secretary Frances Hall, who lost her 20-year-old son Peter to the disease, said: "It's frightening. Nobody knows what proportions this disease will reach.

"The figures are definitely on the increase in Scotland. If they remain the same we can expect at least 40 young people to fall victim by the year 2010.

"The worry is that the figures will just keep on rising."

Scientists are almost certain victims caught the disease from eating mechanically extracted meat.

Yesterday Dr Robert Will, head of the Government's CJD surveillance unit in Edinburgh, said he believed the meat was used in baby food and school meals consisting of pies, burgers and sausages.

Experts are unable to predict the scale of the problem because the timebomb disease can lie dormant in humans for up to 30 years.

Food expert Professor Hugh Pennington, of Aberdeen University, said yesterday: "We have to look at the number of deaths because we are dealing in single figures which we would expect to fluctuate.

"We have no idea how many young people could develop this disease.

"We also know the disease has a long incubation period by drawing parallels with cases of CJD in Papua New Guinea where cannibalism existed up until 1959.

"Women were fed the brain matter from humans who had CJD and many of those women are still developing the disease to this day."

Ten Scots have died since 1995 after developing new variant CJD.

Last night the aunt of Scotland's youngest CJD victim, Donnamarie McGivern, said it was possible the 17-year-old could have developed the disease after eating baby food as a toddler.