Posted on 04/26/2006 1:45:25 PM PDT by Calpernia
Chinese company refuses comment on claims it spread AIDS to hemophiliacs
SHANGHAI, China -- A Chinese pharmaceutical company's spokesman refused to comment Wednesday on accusations the company's hemophilia drugs spread HIV to scores of users.
Li Wanhua, spokesman for The Shanghai Institute of Biological Products, refused to address the claims in a brief telephone interview.
"I have no comment on this at the moment," Li said. Hemophiliacs and the parents of children with HIV say the institute made a hemophilia drug using HIV-infected blood and continued to sell it after the Ministry of Health banned it in 1995.
Family members have repeatedly met with institute officials who they say have refused to accept any responsibility or demands for compensation.
Several relatives have sued the company in local courts, but none has received a settlement.
"Not only did they not pull the drug when they were supposed to, no one even told the users that they were at risk of getting HIV/AIDS," Yin Ce, whose 15-year-old son has tested positive for the virus, said in an interview in Shanghai last week.
Relatives said they believe 123 Chinese hemophiliacs became infected with HIV by using medications. China estimated it had 650,000 people living with HIV at the end of 2005, and 75,000 with AIDS, although many experts believe the actual number is much higher.
The Health Ministry and Shanghai's Health Bureau have not responded to faxed questions about the allegations. City police officers broke up a news conference held by victims and relatives last week and detained at least one reporter who had spoken with them.
China's government treats with suspicion all attempts to argue complaints outside official channels, while local authorities frequently protect industries that are major tax payers.
Victims in similar cases in the U.S., Japan and other countries have frequently received major settlements from drug companies. Hemophilia is a debilitating inherited disorder that prevents the blood from clotting and patients who have it are treated with blood infusions.
Q: where did the HIV-infected blood come from? Could there be a Clinton connection like there was with the cases in Canada?
ping
FR Keyword: tainted blood
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=taintedblood
Not a lot of news on this yet. I think it is just breaking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.