Free Republic

WASHINGTON – A documentary seven years in the making tying Bill Clinton to an Arkansas prison blood scandal that spread AIDS to thousands around the world is set to screen in Hollywood next week – renewing controversy about the long-forgotten story. The film, which premieres at the prestigious American Film Institute film festival next Tuesday, reportedly uncovers fresh evidence about how thousands in Europe contracted AIDS and hepatitis through tainted blood deliberately shipped even after widespread problems were discovered in Canada where some 10,000 had already been infected. "Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal," made by Kelly Duda, an...

FORMER US President Bill Clinton may be forced to appear in court over a medical scandal which claimed the lives of innocent Scots. Many haemophiliacs were infected with hepatitis C after tainted blood from American prisoners was imported into the UK. Glasgow firm Thomsons are representing the families of Scots sufferers who died after contracting the disease. They allege inmates in an Arkansas jail were paid to donate blood despite the authorities knowing they had AIDS and hepatitis. They are threatening to call the ex-president, who was state governor at the time, to the witness stand. The infected bloodwasused to...

Will and his partner are like a well-oiled machine when it comes to making their morning coffee. Will, wanted to donate blood: We never had a fight. Never had one fight. They have been in a monogamous relationship for five years and recently the couple was moved by the images of the devastation left behind by hurricane Katrina. Will: I went to donate blood, because I felt like I needed to do something for the hurricane victims. But before will could even roll up his sleeves, he was told his blood was unwanted. The reason - it wasn't because he...

"Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson has said that gay men should be allowed to give blood or donate organs, in an interview published on Thursday. Men who have had sex with other men are banned from giving blood or donating organs in many countries, including the United States, because their sexual habits are deemed to increase the risk of spreading the HIV/AIDS virus."

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, gay rights advocates have grumbled about a federal policy that forbids blood donation by men who have had sex with men. They say that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV-positive blood from entering the nation's blood supply, implies gay men are inherently ill and that it prevents healthy people from donating. Occasional protests and talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have brought no change. Now, some college students have taken up the cause, and they're taking a new tack. Instead of pressuring the FDA directly, they...

Gay men should be able to donate blood, students say College group pressures Red Cross By STEVEN BODZIN Los Angeles Times July 11. 2005 8:06AM WASHINGTON - For more than a decade, gay rights advocates have grumbled about a federal policy that forbids blood donation by men who have had sex with men. They say that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV-positive blood from entering the nation's blood supply, implies gay men are inherently sick and that it prevents healthy people from donating. Occasional protests and talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have...

LifeSouth Community Blood Centers and the American Red Cross put out a call for donors over the weekend because blood supplies are low and likely to worsen in the wake of Hurricane Dennis. A hurricane isn't usually the kind of disaster that uses up the blood supply. But officials point out that hurricanes and the storms, tornadoes and flooding that follow affect the amount of blood available as drives are often canceled and offices may be damaged or closed. "It makes what's already a short supply even more tentative," said Rick Cantrell, executive director of the Madison/Marshall County Chapter of...

EDMONTON -- Russell Mulawka started giving blood 53 years ago, and he just recently made his last donation. Over that time he gave blood 601 times, and giving an average of 500 millilitres per time. That adds up to 300 litres, which is enough of his RH positive blood to fill two bathtubs or drain the average human body about 60 times. Now 71, he has never had a transfusion himself, and neither have members of his immediate family, but "I'm hoping that maybe it did a miracle for somebody." He started giving blood when he was 18 and in...

HAMILTON, Ontario - The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty Monday to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s, and was fined $4,000 in the public health disaster that infected thousands. More than 1,000 Canadians contracted blood-borne HIV and up to 20,000 others were infected with hepatitis C after receiving the tainted blood products. About 3,000 people had died by 1997 and the death toll has grown, but recent estimates were not available. "(The) Canadian Red Cross Society is deeply sorry for the injury and death ... for the suffering caused to families and loved ones of...

HAMILTON (CP) - Tens of thousands of Canadians infected with AIDS or hepatitis C got an apology from the Canadian Red Cross on Monday after the charity pleaded guilty to distributing tainted blood in exchange for dropped criminal charges. "The Canadian Red Cross Society is deeply sorry for the injury and death caused to those who were infected . . . and for the suffering caused to families and loved ones of those who were harmed," Dr. Pierre Duplessis, the organization's secretary general, told the Ontario Superior Court in a video-taped apology as tearful victims looked on. "We accept responsibility...

LOS ANGELES - The Red Cross has less than an eight-hour supply of Type O-Negative blood in what is being called one of Southern California's worst blood shortages in recent history, an organization official said on Friday. There are also no severe shortages of O-Positive and other blood types, according to Julie Juliusson of the Southern California Red Cross. "We are urging our neighbors to make an appointment today to donate blood," said Director of Donor Recruitment Cliff Numark. "We are also asking businesses, universities, churches and other groups of 100 people or more to schedule blood drives to support...

I AM writing in response to a Sunday News editorial, "Education lacking: UNH Senate AIDS issue shows it," that was published Feb. 27. As the author of the UNH Senate Resolution that the editorial referred to, I feel obligated to respond and clear up some of the apparent confusion among the editorial staff. The current FDA regulation banning any man who has had sex with another man at any time since 1977 from donating blood were instituted in the early 1980s as a precaution against the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS through the blood supply. It was the...

Notes From Out of the Blue . . . Greetings from New Jersey, a State which on Monday will shed Governor James McGreevey, who has single-handedly rewritten the book on personal and political recklessness, to the point that he is now obliged to resign in disgrace. The Governor has been awash in examples of high-risk political behavior since taking office. Many of these have been well documented, including during the final run-up to his resignation Monday, November 15th, as in a recent Gannet compilation found at http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m110704c.htm. But the Governor has also taken part in unacceptably high-risk personal behavior, the...

WELCOME BACK... we've missed you.Good News...you will soon be eligible to help save lives again by donating blood! It is my extreme pleasure to inform you of an important testing advancement at the Red Cross which enables me to welcome you back as a potential blood or apheresis donor. At the time of your last donation, we wrote to advise you of an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation we had found when testing your blood. ALT is an enzyme found in the liver and other parts of the body, which when elevated. may suggest infection or irritation of the liver. With...

The American Red Cross destroyed all blood donations from a University of Missouri-Columbia sorority but did not tell the public because it didn’t want to raise concerns about the blood supply the Red Cross promised was safe. A Red Cross spokesman said yesterday 81 donations were destroyed out of concern the sorority members lied on their donor questionnaires, breaching one of the safeguards against tainted blood. The spokesman, Jim Williams, also acknowledged the elimination wasn’t shared with the public. "Our main emphasis there was to make sure the public wasn’t alarmed for any reason," he said. "We always had the...

Two student legislators at Western Oregon University have launched a drive to ban Red Cross blood drives on campus, claiming the donor screening process discriminates against gays. The two students are particularly upset about a donor question that reads: "Are you a male who has had sex with another male since 1977, even once?" The federal Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the Red Cross screening process, will not accept a donation from someone who answers 'yes' to the question, in order to help eliminate potentially HIV-tainted blood. "By continuing to allow the Red Cross on our campus, the university...

Military Blood Program Seeks Holiday Donors American Forces Press Service FALLS CHURCH, Va., Dec. 23, 2003 – The Armed Services Blood Program urges eligible donors to give blood this holiday season to ensure supplies are available to treat service members, retirees and their families. Army Pvt. Dylan Tyahla donates his 10th pint of blood at Fort Gordon, Ga. Tyahla will be able to continue as a regular Armed Services Blood Program donor at his next duty assignment in Okinawa. Photo by Paul Clayton(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available. The blood program organization collects, processes and distributes blood...

IT'S A GOOD THING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WAL-Mart is just 150 yards from my office. In my very informal Belz Blue-Collar Poll on Homosexual Marriage (see last week's issue), I forgot one very important follow-up question, and had to hurry back this morning to get a few more opinions. (This very unscientific approach is why you should attach no statistical significance to my findings.) To put this account in context, you need to know that a couple of days ago, I had also stopped by for a visit to the local unit of Red Cross, where I go as often as...

Students at Southern Oregon University (SOU) say they will cancel their blood drive this term because eligibility to donate discriminates against gay men. Students say that goes against the university's anti-discrimination policy and continues to label AIDS and HIV as a gay men's disease. David Adkins-Brown, SOU multicultural senator, said that is a misnomer that needs to be eradicated. "From my understanding, it's a rule they made up in the 1980s and people are not up to date," he said. Guidelines say males who have had homosexual encounters even once since 1977 are ineligible.

As was posted a few days ago, the military contracted with ABC and ARC to supply them with blood if needed. As of Friday afternoon, they have asked the blood centers for blood. Please call your local blood center and make an appointment, especially if you are O negative. The supply must be steady, not all at once. LL