Canada Red Cross used HIV blood

[DoYouEverWonder]

31 May, 2005

The Red Cross in Canada has pleaded guilty to distributing contaminated blood supplies which infected thousands of Canadians with HIV and hepatitis C.

More than 3,000 people have died since getting the tainted blood in the 1980s.

The blood scandal is widely regarded as one of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history.

The plea - which follows years of legal wrangling - is reported to be part of a deal with prosecutors to drop charges of criminal negligence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4595039.stm

[lies and propaganda]

1. we did this shit as well...

I dont have the links to support it, it was just something that I completely know happened.

We did little to figure it out because we considered it a 'gay' disease, and that blood got tansfused everwhere. Look at how it has bit us on the ass.

[Celebration]

2. Arthur Ashe

And many others.

[Princess Turandot]

19. Arthur Ashe ..

received him blood transfusion before the HIV screening test for blood donations was developed, I believe.

[dddem]

3. A dear friend lost a son who was a hemophiliac.

He became infected when he was 9 and he died when he was 21. I found out from her that the drug companies knew the clotting factor was tainted, and they knew a percentage of these kids would become infected. The best part though is that they also knew that if they recalled the product and heat treated it, it would kill the virus, and the product would be safe; however, they decided it would be more cost-effective to let it go, and settle with the victims later. There was a class action lawsuit (google "Committee of ten thousand"), but many of the victims couldn't settle, because they were being treated with AIDS drugs, and Medicaid would cut them off once they received their settlement money. A lose-lose for the victims, and a win-win for the pharmaceuticals.
The FDA knew also, but declined to issue a recall (they "recommended" it, but didn't actually recall the product). My friend went to Washington, and met with John Kerry, who was one of the sponsors of the Ricky Ray act, to compensate victims.
I once commented to my friend that she must feel like her son was murdered, and she said she did.
I think this was the beginning for me to wake up about what our government really does for the American people, and for it's corporate citizens.
By the way, my friend's son was named John, and he was a wonderful person. His parents have spent the last 9 years since his death raising awareness, and raising a lot of money for a local Pediatric AIDS charity. These people are my heroes.

[trotsky]

6. "they decided it would be more cost-effective"

That just sends chills down my spine. And if Bush-style "tort reform" ever gets enacted, you can bet this kind of simple cost-benefit calculation will become standard procedure for EVERY company.

[Hand]

4. Yes, thanks to Elizabeth Dole. nt

[Psephos]

5. Unsupported rumor is the little brother of lies and propaganda

Maybe there's something to what you said, maybe not, but why should we bother looking into it if you can't be bothered yourself?

The idea that the ARC would have blown this off because it was considered a gay disease doesn't compute. The problem was with HIV+ donors. Most recipients are not gay. People like hemophiliacs who receive a lot of exposure to concentrated blood fractions were the first to suffer.

The ARC had a big lesson in what a contaminated blood supply could mean from the hepatitis epidemic in the gay community in the 1970s. No one knew what HIV was when it first appeared. Once the dimensions became clear, the ARC went into commando mode. Other organizations, particularly those with a political reason to be unkind to gays, rightly deserve a spanking for dragging their feet. It would be hard to make that charge stick to the ARC.

Peace.

[Moderator]

7. kick to combine

[lovuian]

8. Tainted-blood scandal: Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty

http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/05/31/60067.html

20:52 2005-05-31
The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty yesterday to a single charge arising from the tainted-blood scandal and publicly accepted responsibility for the disaster that left thousands of people infected with HIV and hepatitis C, saying it "is deeply sorry for the injury and death caused to those who were infected by blood or blood products it distributed" in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Many HIV and hepatitis C sufferers from across Canada said they had waited decades to hear those words, aired in a Hamilton court through a videotaped statement by the current Red Cross chief executive officer, Dr. Pierre Duplessis.

Mike McCarthy, spokesman for the Canadian Hemophilia Society and a tireless activist for victims, welcomed the admission of wrongdoing but with little satisfaction, informs the Globe and Mail.
more...

It took this long Unfreakingbelievable!!!

[Name removed]

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[uppityperson]

16. pshaw

DU rules state only post 2-3 paragraphs and webpage address. And as far as HIV not transmitted by blood, pshaw. HIV is spread by blood transmission. I do not know what all this is you quote, but know enough medicine to know that it is.

[Name removed]

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[uppityperson]

23. HIV has been isolated, photographed.

It is difficult to reproduce in the laboratory and here are tests for it. One big problem is that it mutates rapidly, like cold and influenza viruses do. They are able to trace strains and figure out what strain has been passed around in what way, and what strain(s) someone with HIV has. I am sorry for people who believe as you do about it as it makes it difficult to get funding for the necessary research. Good luck in life and I hope you stay healthy.

[Name removed]

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[uppityperson]

33. By your thinking, nothing can be photographed

All that is shown on any "photograph" is a composite of light and dark caused by reflected light off the electrons of the subject and ALL THAT IS SHOWN IS THE SURFACE TOPOGRPAPHY of an object. Although how do we know there are electrons since none has ever been photographed because they are too small. If they exists at all. The "photograph" of my "cat" does not really show the cat but the surface topography of the cat.

What I understand is that you disagree with much science, do not understand what classifications were for AIDS and HIV and how they changed over time, give quotes from stories that are not there, quote uncredited articles and sources and I need not continue discussing this with you.

[Name removed]

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[iverglas]

31. check it out

A quick google for a line from the text found it:
http://www.sumeria.net/aids/viii.html
here:
http://www.sumeria.net/
Check that one out, eh?

A quick google on one of the three authors found this:
http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/epapadopoulos.htm

I have no particular dog in the race, not being informed enough to assess such things or motivated enough to acquire the degrees I'd need for that purpose, but in my own inteligent-amateur way, I've never been particularly impressed by the theories in question. The authors quoted appear to be leading lights in the "no such thing as AIDS" camp.

[uppityperson]

22. Wrong about what story claims

Where in this story does it claim "Tens of thousands Canadians were infected with AIDS"? I cannot find this in the story. Thank you.

[Name removed]

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[iverglas]

32. it ain't there

What the BBC report says:

More than 1,000 people became infected with HIV and as many as 20,000 others contracted hepatitis C through blood transfusions and blood products.

Hepatitis C infection was by far the most common negative outcome.

My best friend's brother is dying of Hepatitis C (liver failure) as a result of contracting the disease from tainted blood in a transfusion while in hospital for a chronic bowel disease years ago.

A friend of mine died two years ago as a result of contracting the disease from donating blood. He was a devoted and regular blood donor (selling blood has never been permitted in Canada), and apparently the equipment used by the RC had not been properly sterilized.

I recently found out that a former partner of mine was diagnosed with Hepatitis C several years ago, some years after he returned to the US. The irony is (and I will likely never know, particularly since he died, of a heart attack, earlier this year) that while he was a decades-long IV drug user, it's possible that he contracted the disease from transfusions in a Canadian hospital where he was treated for a broken nose. (Because of his HIV risk status, the usual extraordinary precautions were taken by personnel treating him and in disposing of materials used in his treatment ... and then a year later, after he'd left the country, came the hand-delivered letter advising him to be tested for Hep C because he had received blood during the risk period.)

In any event, I don't see any claim in the article that "tens of thousands" of people contracted HIV from tainted blood.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. I would assume the number stated

would include all those folks who had already died from the infection.

The number you are using is for current cases.

[tntrc vupnt]

11. Distributing HIV contaminated products in US and abroad

This is just the tip of the iceberg. During the late 70's and early 80's, US blood product manufacturers set up "plasma farms" in prisons, advertised in gay magazines and placed paid plasma donor centers in skid row sections of cities. They made multiple products out of the the same blood donation, combining thousands of donations in large vats to mass produce the various products. They were harvesting Hepatitis antibodies and viral particles from the groups with high levels of Hepatitis at the time--urban gay males, iv drug users and prisoners. Once HIV crossed over from IV drug users and gay males to hemophiliacs and blood transfusion recipients, it was clear the donor population was resulting in blood-based medications that transmitted the agent causing AIDS. The companies promptly marketed products with added viral deactivation steps, like heating. They implemented donor screening procedures ostensibly to eliminate the risky donors they had sought out before. But, all the plasma from these paid-donors was still in their warehouses, so they kept making contaminated products from the expensive inventory of older plasma. Plus, they kept marketing the unheated inventory of finished products. 10,000 US hemophiliacs were infected with HIV through these reckless practices and a comparable amount worldwide.

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[uppityperson]

21. Link

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[uppityperson]

24. What are you talking about? "after AIDS"?

"the mortality rate DECLINED a staggering 71% during this period (post 'AIDS')."

Are you saying that when they changed the term from HTLV2 and AIDS to HIV with a more limited AIDS classification that mortality rate dropped? Or that being HIV+ makes you healthier? What dramatic drop in mortalities are you talking about?

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[uppityperson]

14. Me

[Robbien]

15. Only pro-Bush Canadians would be in that classification

But most of those Bushbot types live here in the States.

[CHIMO]

20. Tainted blood scandal

Tainted blood scandal

CBC News Online | May 30, 2005

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/taintedblood/

Following through the history on this is a case of cover up. Anyone who had a blood transfusion from the early 1980's was at risk. The only way that they can quote the numbers is because people have come forward. There are still many who have not come forward and there are still some who are not aware that they have contracted the illness.

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