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News Plan for using US blood sparks new fear     Aug 17 2002   By Amanda Crook, The Journal   The Government was last night forced to defend its plans to use plasma from America for young children as a precaution against the human form of mad cow disease.Blood safety campaigners - whose relatives were infected with HIV and hepatitis from US blood products - say they are worried by the announcement and have little confidence in Department of Health assurances.The product is intended for children born after 1995 as they would not have been exposed to BSE...

SUNDAY EXPRESSPoliticians may face criminal charges over infected blood. EXCLUSIVE BY LUCY JOHNSTON Health Editor FORMER Tory and Labour ministers could face criminal charges over the use of contaminated blood in the NHS which infected thousands with HIV and hepatitis C. The Association of Chief Police Officers is to examine evidence which reveals key health and Treasury officials across two decades ignored repeated warnings that blood products used in the UK were putting lives at risk. Terence Grange, chairman of ACPO’s personal crime division, has written to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if there is enough evidence for...

Medical Council launches blood probe[Posted: Mon 12/08/2002]exclusive by Fergal BowersIn a dramatic development, the Irish Medical Council has served an order on the Blood Bank to hand over documents relating to the hepatitis C infection scandal so that it can conduct a formal inquiry into its former Medical Director, Dr Terry Walsh.Irishhealth.com has learned that the Medical Council, which polices doctors' behaviour, has issued an order on the Irish Blood Transfusion Service under legislation, for documentation produced for the Finlay Blood Tribunal.It is the first time that any person in the blood infection controversy has been ordered to an...

Owen demands inquiry into infected blood scandal James Meikle, health correspondentMonday August 19, 2002The Guardian Lord Owen, who was a Labour health minister from 1974 to 1976, has alleged that maladministration by his former department contributed to the scandal in which thousands of patients became infected by contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s. He wants an inquiry into how a promise he made that Britain would be self-sufficient in supplies of clotting factors was not fulfilled and says the government must compensate thousands of people suffering from haemophilia believed to be infected with hepatitis C. The former...