[BLOOD TRAIL] Author says film on blood is stolen

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE | December 27, 2003 | TRACI SHURLEY

[Wallaby]

Author says film on blood is stolen PB writer claims worker took idea BY TRACI SHURLEY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Saturday, December 27, 2003 The author of a novel about tainted blood being transported from Arkansas to Canada is suing a former employee he claims stole a documentary about the events that inspired the book. Michael Galster of Pine Bluff filed a complaint in U.S. District Court this week against Kelly Duda of Little Rock. Galster wants a judge to stop Duda from showing the documentary Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal next month at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Galster, who operates an orthopedic clinic in Pine Bluff, does not have a registered copyright on the documentary. He claims, however, that federal law protects him as the author from "any intentional distortion, mutilation or modification" of his work. "This film is the plaintiff’s sole cinematic production," the lawsuit says, "and it must be presented as the plaintiff intended." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, more than 1,000 people in Canada were infected with HIV through the country’s blood supply, and more than 10,000 were infected with Hepatitis C. Some of those infected claim that tainted blood came from inmates at the Cummins Unit near Grady. Officials had attempted to recall some of the blood product made with inmates’ plasma in 1983, after discovering that ineligible donors had taken part in the Cummins program. In 1997, a Canadian commission studying what is called the "tainted blood tragedy" described in its final report how blood made its way from Arkansas to Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s through a Montreal-based company called Continental Pharma and a Toronto company called Connaught Laboratories.

According to a report earlier this month by the Canadian broadcasting group, CTV, Inc., Factor 8 claims that the blood center continued shipping inmate blood to Canada after 1983. The Arkansas Department of Correction’s Cummins Unit operated the state’s only prison plasma program from the mid-1960s until 1989. Hundreds of inmates sold plasma each week and were paid as much as $7 per donation. Duda’s Little Rock telephone number is unlisted. He did not return an e-mail requesting comment. Galster’s court filing says he began working on the documentary in 1998 after finishing his book, Blood Trail. Galster says in an affidavit that he hired Duda to help him. But, after years of working on the project together, Galster claims Duda has "stolen my project... and corrupted its content," the lawsuit claims. Factor 8 is included in a list of documentaries set to compete in the Slamdance Film Festival. A recent news release from festival organizers describes the film as an 85-minute documentary directed by Duda that "investigates the sale of tainted blood from infected prisoners to Canada, Europe and Japan, thus spreading AIDS and Hepatitis C." Galster is not mentioned. The Slamdance Film Festival is a competition for emerging filmmakers that coincides with the Sundance Film Festival. The Arkansas Department of Correction’s Cummins Unit operated the state’s only prison plasma program from the mid-1960s until 1989. Hundreds of inmates sold plasma each week and were paid as much as $7 per donation.

[Askel5]

Sorry! I didn't even think to check.

Are the Canadian and KC stories already posted as well?

[Wallaby]

Who would have thought a blood trail story would be posted at all, let alone twice? (Though the article you posted was not a duplicate anyway.)

Good to see you back, A5!

[Wallaby]

If T'wit doesn't give a translation, I'll do my best mañana.

[Askel5]

=== Who would have thought a blood trail story would be posted at all


Oh dear ... trust this will change.

If you find the ILP article, please flag me. In the meantime, I'm checking to see what's available by archive of the KC Star "series on Heptatis". If I have no luck, I'll sic you on the case, if that's all right.

[The Westerner]

ok

[BigM]

A bump and a drip!

[BigM]

A xmas blood bump for you too A5!

[thinden]

thanx for the flag, walls.

[thinden]

A bump and a drip!

ain't been a drip to bump in quite a while.

[thinden]

thanx for flagging budge, fred.

[thinden]

fyi

[backhoe]

Bring
Up
My
Post

[blackie]

Bloody Bump!

[Landru]

"OTTAWA - In a rare move, the criminal proceedings against those charged in Canada's tainted-blood scandal have suddenly been put on a fast track."

Not sure this is a "good" sign or not, as it seems every previous effort to investigate schemes surrounding or linked to the great criminal were either too slow, too fast, but never just right.

The "Too slow" tack provided for apathy & fading memories.
The "Too fast" tack meant something had been woefully redefined so that for example a clear cut case of "perjury" suddenly became an "It's all about sex" argument.
Had it *ever* been "Just right" it'd have easily put the SOB behind bars forevermore; &, well up to now anyway, we all know that hasn't happened.

In any event, Wallaby's link (above) to the "Blood Trail" is simply excellent & worth the price of admission for a brief walk down memory lane.

Thanks for the ping/update, thinden.

Frankly speaking, given the radical changes the place has undergone I'm shocked it's been permitted to remain.

...so far.

[BigM]

the blood trail has been bumping quietly along outside the comment from the US media. It's a bad penny that keeps on rolling back to you!

bump!

[doug from upland]

I have talked about this on talk radio including the series of guest appearances I made on an L.A. show that the hosts called "Conspiracy Corner." They played X-Files music and let me go at it. They mocked the tainted blood connection with Clinton. Let's hope I can someday stick it in their faces again.

[thinden]

where did the mounties ever get with their investigation?

[MizSterious]

Thanks for this one. A lot of people might have a personal stake in this story--and they might not even know it yet. People can have hcv for many years before discovering it.

[BigM]

In November 2002 they (RCMP) laid charges against the Canadian Red Cross, Health Canada, and Armour Pharmacutical company. The RCMP continue with their investigation into prison blood and currently has a full scale investigation in progress in Montreal. I can send you the links if you'd like to read it.

[Tymesup]

I recognize William and Vince; who are the other two?