Guest guest Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Toronto — Some Canadians who received transplants of bone, skin or tendons need to be tested for infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis after it was discovered the U.S. supplier of the products may have illegally procured them from corpses at funeral homes. About 300 human tissue products from Biomedical Tissue Services Ltd. were exported to several Canadian companies, which supply tissue to hospitals and health professionals across the country for grafting during dental and orthopedic procedures. This week, a Health Canada advisory said distributors that purchased human tissue from Biomedical have recalled the products. The Fort Lee, N.J., company is under investigation for allegedly obtaining bones and other tissues from bodies trafficked from New York-area funeral homes. U.S. law prohibits the sale of body parts for profit, but the probe by the Brooklyn district attorney's office alleges that relatives' consent forms were forged and cause of death records altered to make the donations to tissue-processing companies acceptable. Health Canada has asked importers to advise hospitals, physicians and dentists to contact patients who received the products and arrange for them to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and C, human T- cell lymphotrophic virus (HTLV 1 and II) and syphilis. " One of the things that even (Health Canada) has pointed out was they feel there is a low risk of any chance of disease, but the risk is still there, " Bert Kelly, a spokesman for Medtronic Inc., said from Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Kelly said Medtronic buys and distributes tissue products from Regeneration Technology Inc. (RTI) of Florida. His division sells bone products to Canadian hospitals and health professionals through Medtronic's branch in Mississauga, Ont. The products are used for such procedures as fracture repair and spinal fusion surgery. Even though RTI goes through a rigorous screening and sterilization process of donor tissue, the company " felt the best thing to do would be to recall any tissue that came from this BTS company to alleviate the concerns of patients and everybody involved, " Mr. Kelly said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051027.wtranspla nt1027/BNStory/Front RIGHT NOW in this new world order, RIGHT NOW no one is free RIGHT NOW Corporations own this world RIGHT NOW we are victems of thier greed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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