Government knew of HIVrisk from imported blood. Expert panel decided against import ban - sincethen 1,757 have died

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Ambro ambrovista Sun, 27 May 2007 09:07:39 -0700 (PDT)Ambro < ambrovista Government knew of HIV risk from imported blood. Expert panel decided against import ban - since then 1,757 have died rogue_radio Government knew of HIV risk from imported bloodExpert panel decided against import ban - since then 1,757 have diedSarah Hall Friday May 25, 2007 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,2087943,00.html The government's advisers on medicine knew thatpatients were at risk of contracting Aids fromimported blood products as early as 1983, but ruledagainst a ban because of fears it would cause ashortage of supply. Minutes obtained by the Guardian of a meeting held onJuly 13 1983 reveal that the Committee on Safety ofMedicines (CSM) knew that "patients who repeatedlyreceive blood clotting-factor concentrates appear to be at risk" of Aids. They also knew that the risks were highest if theblood products came "from the blood of homosexual andIV drug users in areas of high incidence - eg New Yorkand California" and for those who repeatedly received high doses of the blood plasma products. Despite this,the committee ruled that the risk of contracting Aidshad to be balanced against the "life-saving" benefitsof their use to haemophiliacs. They also argued that withdrawing the blood products was "not feasible onthe grounds of supply". British patients with the rare inherited condition inwhich blood does not clot normally were not told ofthe risks. Critics say they would have preferred to carry on receiving their previous treatment, calledcryoprecipitate, manufactured in the UK from singledonors, even though it meant going to hospital. Nearly 5,000 people were infected with hepatitis C; of these 1,200 contracted HIV after receiving theimported plasma product in the late 70s and early tomid-80s. A total of 1,757 patients have died and many areterminally ill following a scandal that the Labour peer Lord Winston has dubbed "the worst treatmentdisaster in the history of the NHS". The revelations are contained in documents obtained bycampaigners as part of the public inquiry into thehaemophilia affair, which took emotional evidence fromvictims yesterday. The minutes conclude: "The possibility was consideredof withdrawing US preparations from the UK. It wasconcluded that this is not at present feasible on grounds of supply. Moreover, the perceived level ofrisk does not at present justify serious considerationof such a solution." However, it argued that the UK should becomeself-sufficient in blood concentrates - something the former Labour health minister David (now Lord) Owen,had pledged would happen by 1977. The plasma, called Factor VIII, was made from bloodfrom 10,000 paid donors, many of whom were prisonersor vagrants, who, by 1975, were known to carry a greater risk of having hepatitis C. The decision to continue using the US plasma productcame despite the committee being warned of the growinglink between it, Aids and haemophiliacs by thescientist charged with assessing the spread of such diseases. In a letter to the Department of Health and SocialSecurity dated May 9 1983, Dr Spence Galbraith, thehead of the communicable disease surveillance centreat the Public Health Laboratory Service, warned that, since there had been 14 cases of haemophiliacscontracting Aids after receiving Factor VIIIconcentrate - including one in Cardiff - US bloodproducts made in the affected period should bewithdrawn. Dr Galbraith added: "I have reviewed the literatureand come to the conclusion that all blood productsmade from blood donated in the US after 1978 should bewithdrawn from use until the risk of Aids transmission by these products has been clarified." Dr Galbraith gave expert evidence at the July 13meeting, of a subcommittee of the CSM, where hisadvice to withdraw imported blood products wasconsidered but ruled out. The subcommittee, chaired by Dr (later Sir) Joseph Smith also received a scientificpaper on Aids that warned: "It is hoped there is no'ticking time bomb' for haemophiliacs." Last night Sir Joseph said: "The subcommittee faced the difficult decision of weighing the relativelyuncertain risk of contamination from imported bloodproducts against the serious risk of harm to patientswith haemophilia should there be a shortage of theproducts. The conclusions reached were considered andagreed by the CSM. "At that time the need for blood products for thetreatment of haemophilia patients far outstripped thesupply of the material produced in the UK. The subcommittee wanted the UK to produce enough materialas soon as possible so that import would no longer berequired. The need for research into Aids was alsostrongly supported, including the development of heat treatment to counter the risk of infection. "It remains a great tragedy that many peoplecontracted blood-borne diseases from contaminatedmaterials ... The subcommittee's conclusions werebased on the best available evidence at the time, balancing what was known of the risks and benefits ofcurrent treatment options to patients living with alife-threatening condition." The government has always insisted treatment was givenin "good faith" and that it did not understand the danger. Carol Grayson, whose husband Peter Longstaff died inApril 2005 after contracting Aids and hepatitis C, andwho now heads the campaign group Haemophilia ActionUK, said: "The minutes ... clearly demonstrate that the safety warnings regarding Aids laid out by DrGalbraith ... were ignored by both the government andmembers of the medical profession. "In 1983, the government and medical professionbrushed aside the fact that haemophiliacs were dying from Aids. The alarm bells should have been ringing. "Dr Galbraith had already identified that the UStreatment came from large plasma pools and that therewas a high risk that the products were contaminated with Aids because of the type of donor used. But thoseresponsible for patient safety at the CSM meetingdecided that 'the benefits of this treatmentoutweighed the risk' and in doing so condemned many patients to a death sentence." Roddy Morrison, chair of the Haemophilia Society,said: "The evidence of the risks was clearly known andI feel absolute anger and a degree of incredulity thatthis decision could have been made. This decisionmeant a preventable infection was not prevented - andimpacted on people in the ultimate way." Jenny Willott, the Liberal Democrat MP who hascampaigned on the issue, said: "The more documents that come out, the more clear it becomes that peopledid know there was a quite severe risk - and theyneeded to tell people who were affected. I haveconstituents who contracted HIV and hepatitis and whohad very mild haemophilia. Under no circumstanceswould they have taken anything to put them at risk." At the public inquiry in central London yesterday, onevictim accused successive governments of "a disgraceful cover-up". Another, haemophiliac AndrewEvans, 30, told the hearing he had been living withHIV for 25 years. His parents were told of his HIVstatus when he was 10; the information was kept from him until he was 13, when he began to display symptomsof immune deficiency.