U.K. tainted blood inquiry slams delays in ‘horrific human tragedy’
supplier used paid donations from prisoners and others at high risk of infection after alarms were raised about the practice. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a $1. S. “Had self-sufficiency been achieved earlier, the scale of the catastrophe would have been significantly reduced. “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that commercial interests took precedence over public health concerns,” Archer said in pointing to U. 1-billion plan to compensate 5,500 Canadians who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood who were excluded from earlier compensation. ” The hereditary bleeding disorder has no cure. The U. In his inquiry report, Justice Horace Krever said all victims of tainted blood should be treated equally. ”
Surviving victims should be provided free health care, access to insurance and “compensation for those who have had their lives ruined,” said the inquiry’s report, which was privately funded. “The procrastination in achieving national self-sufficiency to avoid the use of high-risk blood products from overseas had disastrous consequences,” the report said. No individuals were named. The Archer inquiry was the first detailed probe into tainted blood in Britain. The victims were given unsafe blood plasma and infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and hepatitis C. S. Tainted blood scandals have also been investigated in France, Japan and elsewhere, leading to some convictions of health officials and many compensation packages for people with hemophilia who were infected. In a report released Monday, Lord Peter Archer, who led the inquiry, called the deaths of nearly 2,000 people with hemophilia since the 1970s a “horrific human tragedy. The report also said the government had been slow to respond to the dangers of infection. companies that provided the tainted blood products. An independent inquiry has criticized government delays in responding to Britain’s tainted blood scandal.
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