Seven French former medical officials went on trial in Paris today over the deaths of more than 100 people who were infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) when they were injected with growth hormones as children in the 1980s.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is ultimately fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common. Early symptoms include depression, memory lapses and in some cases unusual fatigue.

The doctors, mostly in their seventies and eighties, are charged with manslaughter and fraud arising from alleged negligence in administering the hormone taken from potentially infected human corpses.

Prosecution says that the defendants ignored warnings from 1984, when the death of an American revealed a possible link between human growth hormones and CJD. In 1985, the U.S., Britain and other 12 countries banned hormones extracted from human glands replacing them with synthetic hormones. France was the only country, which continued until 1988, while parents were not warned of a potential risk.

All of them pleaded innocent, but could serve 3 to 10 years if convicted.

The case stems from a single complaint in 1991 by a mother whose 15-year-old son was among them, and snowballed as others filed complaints.

“It is not yet victory. It is an important stage in the fight. We hope that justice will prevail for the memory of our children,” said Jeanne Goerrian, president of the Growth Hormones Victims Associations, according to the Associated Press.

The families are seeking damages beyond the 225,000 euros that has been paid by the state.

Experts say it is likely that other children who underwent the treatment will also fall victim to the disease in the coming years.

The trial, expected to last four months, is already being compared to the early-1990s trial over the distribution of blood contaminated with HIV, in which two senior doctors received prison terms.

Defense lawyers argue that their clients acted in good faith, armed with the medical knowledge of their time.

“It’s true it’s easy today in 2008 to say there was a risk. But in 1983, in 1985, was the risk certain. Twenty years ago, how much was really known,” asked Benoit Chabert, lawyer for Henri Cerceau, the former director of the central hospital pharmacy that was in charge of the hormone production, BBC News reports.