Renewed call for public inquiry into contaminated blood tragedy
3 June 2005
The Haemophilia Society is once again calling for a public enquiry into the contaminated blood tragedies of the 1970s and 1980s following the broadcast of a BBC documentary in Scotland which highlighted several concerns about the manufacture and use of haemophilia treatment in Scotland at the time of contamination with HIV and hepatitis C.
Frontline Scotland's 'Blood and Tears' documentary was broadcast on BBC One in Scotland at 7pm on Wednesday 1 June and reported on:
· Sub-standard facilities in the 1980s at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service where haemophilia clotting factor concentrates were produced
· The sourcing of blood from Scottish prisoners and American servicemen
· The lack of warning about bloodborne viruses when risks of HIV began to be understood from 1982
· The manner and delay with which some patients were informed of the risk of HIV infection
Three people with haemophilia were interviewed. One was infected with hepatitis C in 1986, by which point in time treatment in England and Wales had been rendered safe. Another was not told of his HIV status until 1990, six years after testing positive.
The hard-hitting documentary provides further evidence of the need for an independent public enquiry into the contaminated blood tragedy, both in Scotland and the UK as a whole.
Graham Whitehead, Chief Executive of the Haemophilia Society, said, “There has never been a full public inquiry on this subject in spite of the fact that so many people with haemophilia were infected. Virtually everyone treated by the NHS with blood products before 1986 – some 4,800 people – contracted hepatitis C. Of these some 1,200 also contracted HIV. Today, over 1,000 people have died as a result of these infections.
“If a situation where an entire patient group was infected with a dangerous virus by the NHS were to arise today there would be a major outcry. The fact that this infection took place in the 1970s and 1980s should not prevent an inquiry taking place now. Many people with haemophilia are living with the consequences of decisions taken by the Government in the 1970s and 1980s about the use of blood products in their treatment. This is before taking into account that this patient group is also subject to further precautionary measures in the wake of fears about transmission of variant CJD; indeed, the Society is receiving more and more reports of cases where individuals have been denied access to dental work and other investigative procedures because of the theoretical possibility of contaminating instruments with vCJD.
“A public inquiry is the only way to settle these matters once and for all and to ensure that a treatment catastrophe of such magnitude can never take place again.”
For more information, please contact John Morris on 020 7831 1020.
