Aids risk of imported blood 'was known in 1983' » Health » 24dash.com

Government health advisers knew patients were at risk of contracting Aids from imported blood products as early as 1983, it was reported today.

It comes as an independent inquiry is examining the deaths of nearly 2,000 haemophiliacs who were exposed to HIV or Hepatitis C through contaminated blood.

The Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) discussed the issue at a meeting on July 13 1983 but ruled out a ban because of fears it would mean a shortfall in supply.

The Guardian obtained minutes of the CSM meeting which said: "The possibility was considered of withdrawing US preparations from the UK.

"It was concluded that it is not at present feasible on grounds of supply.

"Moreover, the perceived level of risk does not at present justify serious consideration of such a solution."

The CSM sub-committee meeting was chaired by Dr Joseph Smith, now Sir Joseph, who told the Guardian: "The sub-committee faced the difficult decision of weighing the relatively uncertain risk of contamination from imported blood products against the serious risk of harm to patients with haemophilia should there be a shortage of products. The conclusions reached were considered and agreed by the CSM.

"At that time the need for blood products far outstripped the supply of the material produced in the UK. The sub-committee wanted the UK to produce enough material as soon as possible so that import would no longer be required."

He said it was a "great tragedy" that people contracted blood-borne diseases from contaminated materials but said the committee's conclusions were based on the best available evidence at the time.

Today, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The conclusions of the CSM were based on the best available evidence at the time, balancing what was known of the risks and benefits of current treatment options to patients living with a life-threatening condition."

According to information from the Department of Health, haemophiliacs in America were seen to be contracting Aids in 1983 which strengthened concerns about the safety of imported commercial blood products.

But the Haemophilia Society opposed a ban and urged haemophiliacs to continue treatment.

Yesterday, the public inquiry was told that Government documents relating to an independent inquiry into the deaths of nearly 2,000 haemophiliacs who were exposed to HIV or hepatitis C through contaminated blood had not been withheld.

It has been claimed that the Department of Health has obstructed the inquiry by refusing to release key documents containing information on how patients were infected through NHS treatment.

According to Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, the Department had released just 2% of the total documents held.

Speaking as the inquiry resumed in central London yesterday, former solicitor general Lord Archer of Sandwell, who is heading the public inquiry, said the review was not withheld and copies had been supplied.

He said 5,239 documents appeared to have been identified.

"They seem to believe that most of the lost documents have been found," he told the inquiry.

The documents, which cover the period 1970 to 1985, relate to the safety of blood products and hepatitis C.

The victims and their relatives have been giving emotional accounts about living with HIV and/or hepatitis C following what fertility expert Lord Winston previously described as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".

Nearly 2,000 haemophiliacs exposed to the fatal viruses in contaminated blood or blood products more than 20 years ago have since died and many others are said to be terminally ill.

Haemophiliac Andrew Evans, 30, told the hearing he has been living with HIV for 25 years and did not have the benefit of knowing what it was like not to have the virus.

The secretary of campaigning group Tainted Blood, he said he had also contracted hepatitis C.

His parents were told of his HIV status when he was 10 and the information was kept from him until the age of 13, when he began to display symptoms of immune deficiency, unable to shake off colds and coughs.

"I was declared Aids-diagnosed at the age of 15," Mr Evans told the inquiry.

Mr Evans, who is 6ft 1in, said at one point his weight plummeted to seven stone and medical staff said it was a "miracle" he survived.

His parents had been told they probably should say goodbye to him.

He said haemophiliacs were among the first groups of people exposed to the virus and he had seen his friends die from contamination.

He had also seen people bleed "until they were in agony" rather than be treated with contaminated blood.

"Because of this I have had my life destroyed, as have my family," he said.

"My health is precarious at best and my body has been wrecked by prolonged illness."

Haemophilia is usually an inherited disorder whereby the blood does not clot properly due to low levels of the clotting factors eight or nine.

People with the condition bruise easily and can have spontaneous internal bleeds.

In the 1970s a new method for producing clotting factors was discovered which entailed plasma donations from thousands of donors which were pulled together.

If any of the sources were infected with a blood-borne virus the whole batch would be contaminated.

Some blood products during this time came from American suppliers who paid what became known as "skid row" donors for their blood - people more likely to be infected with HIV and hepatitis C, according to the Haemophilia Society.

The hearings began last month amid claims on the BBC's Newsnight programme that Britain's doctors ignored warnings about using haemophiliacs for testing new blood products.

The programme claimed that from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s 4,500 haemophiliacs in the United Kingdom were exposed to lethal viruses through blood products designed to help them.

The programme said that many official documents had "mysteriously disappeared".

The hearing was later adjourned and will resume on June 4.

Copyright Press Association 2007

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