BLOOD product services in the UK are to go ahead with importing plasma from abroad as soon as possible to avoid the risk of transmission of new variant CJD, the Committee on Safety of Medicines said yesterday.

Confirmation of measures proposed in February followed a review by the committee into the sourcing of blood products by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service's Protein Fractionation Centre and the NHS Bio Products Laboratory. The annual cost will be #70m.

The process will take some months, as suitable collection centres abroad will have to be identified and inspected by the UK authorities.