Posted on 01/17/2006 6:38:49 PM PST by Plasmaman
Hollywood studio to produce feature based on tainted blood scandal
By DENNIS BUECKERT
OTTAWA (CP) - A new Hollywood film will dramatize the story of how contaminated blood from Arkansas prisoners found its way into the veins of thousands of Canadian hemophiliacs, killing many.
Blood Trail will make revelations that point to criminal negligence and raise suspicions of murder, says Elizabeth Fowler of Clear Pictures Entertainment, one of two partners in the project. "The complete story in the proper context has never been told in a dramatic way," Fowler said in an interview Tuesday.
"There's bits here and bits there and that's how they managed to get away with it. You put it all together and you go, 'Whoa!' "
The other partner in the project is Quantum Entertainment, the same company that has produced a controversial new film on Karla Homolka.
An RCMP investigation has been underway for close to five years, but no charges have been laid in connection with the prison blood.
Charges have been filed against leading figures in the Canadian Red Cross and the federal Bureau of Biologics but they don't involve the Arkansas connection.
Fowler said Blood Trail, which is expected to be released in about a year, will feature some prominent characters: Bill Clinton and Paul Martin.
Clinton, who went on to become U.S. president, was Arkansas governor in the 1980s when inmates in a state prison were allowed to run their own blood program without screening for infections.
U.S. regulations banned the sale of blood from high-risk populations in the United States, but did not ban its export to other countries.
A now-defunct Montreal company, Continental Pharma, bought the blood from Arkansas, then sold it to Connaught Laboratories of Toronto.
Connaught was controlled at the time by a Crown corporation, Canada Development Corp. (CDC), of which Martin was a director.
Martin, the current prime minister, has said he can't recall participating in discussions of blood at the corporation. CDC minutes from the time went missing but reappeared in the files of a Calgary chemical company.
Former ethics counsellor Howard Wilson and current information commissioner John Reid both conducted inquiries into the matter but exonerated Martin.
"I'm drawn toward these stories that people want to go away," said Fowler.
She purchased rights to the life stories of Michael Galster, an Arkansas doctor who raised alarms about the prison blood program, and Michael McCarthy, a Canadian hemophiliac who became infected through tainted blood.
The story is marked by many strange coincidences. On the same night in May 1999, Galster's clinic in Arkansas was firebombed and the offices of the Canadian Hemophilia Society were burgled.
An Arkansas prison warden was found murdered just as he was about to talk about the story, said Fowler.
"For the first time were going to present and dramatize in a highly dramatic way all that happened in a way that's understandable to the public.
"It'll all be based upon fact and the public can draw their own conclusions."
It's the second film that has been made about the scandal. The first, Factor 8, has never been distributed in North America although it has won some film festival awards.
Kelly Duda, who produced Factor 8, said he has tried to sell the film to Canadian television networks but when people see how controversial it is, "walls go up."
McCarthy said he hopes Blood Trail will revive political interest in a scandal that left thousands of Canadians infected with hepatitis C.
He noted that only a portion of victims have received government compensation.
If I were this movie's director, I wouldn't be taking any late-night strolls in the park...
There are a few more stories at my links....I didn't copy them all over. Starting point is post 55 and down.
"Back then, Mr. Clinton was governor of Arkansas, and the state contracted with Health Management Associates, to providemedical care for prisoners. Mr. Clinton permitted the Health Maganeement company to collect blood and to pay the Clinton administration in Arkanas $7 for every unit of blood obtained from Arkansas prison convicts."
7 bucks a pint eh? I betcha slick had those inmates walking around white as ghosts bleeding them every few days like a vampire!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1531723/posts
Cover-up as China closes off HIV villages
you just aint whistling Dixie! mob that is...
FDA shut it down three times for gross safety violations..thanks to the support of the Governor, it was relicenced quickly every time/
thanks Cal
Hi, ag -- have you seen this? thanks for all you did in compiling and cataloguing the archives.
I have spoken with Kelly Duda's attorney. This film should have been allowed last year at the film festival.
FYI -- his father is PI Ivan Duda, who had investigated Bill Clinton. His client was Hillary.
?Hollywood?
The Hollywood that we know and ?love?
I wonderhow accurate it will be.
And why he took all those trips on Swissair.
bump
thanks for posting this. it would be wonderful if the story gets wider coverage at long last ... and it's a darn shame it hasn't until now.
I think we can rest assured that Bubba's role will be eliminated, replaced with a "fictionalized" Republican character, or Billary will somehow will be transformed into the movie's hero.
ping
Thanks for the ping and the encouragments!
My brother has hep C, probably from a transfusion, probably not from this, but who knows. I will never forget Mr. Clinton's role in this matter.
I'm sorry to hear of your brother's troubles. I pray for his health and for blessings for your family.
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