Haemophiliac joins Clinton demo

BBC ^ | May 10, 2006

[Plasmaman]

Haemophiliac joins Clinton demo

Protesters want a public inquiry into the use of infected blood products A man from Sussex who was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C while being treated for a blood disorder is taking part in a protest in front of Bill Clinton. The man, a haemophiliac, was treated with infected clotting agents in the 1970s when many of the blood products used came from the United States.

The former President was governor of Arkansas, where haemophiliacs say blood was collected from high-risk prisoners.

The Department of Health says the UK government acted in good faith.

The Sussex protester, who does not want to be named, received treatment with Factor 8 which was intended to save his life.

But he was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C at 14.

Donors screened

"I needed Factor 8 because I was in pain, but in being given that treatment I was given a death sentence," he said.

He travelled to Glasgow, where Mr Clinton is addressing 800 business people, to join Wednesday's protest.

Today, blood donors are screened so that blood is no longer taken from high-risk groups such as drug users.

But the affected haemophiliacs are calling for a public inquiry into how they came to be infected.

The Department of Health said: "We are aware that during the 1970s and 80s blood products were sourced from prisoners in the US.

"An ex-gratia payment is available to every person who was alive on 29 August 2003 and whose Hepatitis C infection was due to NHS treatment with blood or blood products received before September 1991.

"The Government of the day acted in good faith, relying on the technology available at that time, and therefore we do not feel a public inquiry would provide any real benefit to those affected."

[pawdoggie]

The real shame is that our Drive-by Media know all about this. That's why they're going out of their way to promote Clinton's new role as HIV and Health crusader extraordinaire. They're allowing him to CYA, and "atone" for his past, in one swell foop.

[syriacus]

For movie's web page see: Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal

[syriacus]

The Clintons' actions in Arkansas contradict their pretense that they sincerely care about the health of others, especially the health of poor people.

Hillary was on the board of Wal-Mart, and didn't seem to fight for health insurance for the employees. Bill turned a blind eye to the acquisition of the suspect blood.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

BLOOD TRAIL: BAD BLOOD

Wallaby's excellent bit of research (with plenty of "real time" cites and science embedded within) … Is the Blood Trade Responsible for the Spread of the AIDS Epidemic?

• Budge's Links to the Tainted Arkansas Prison Blood Story
  • Page One
  • Page Two
  • Page Three
• Blood Trail by Michael Sullivan (Galster)
• BLOOD TRAIL -- Clinton
  
• BLOOD TRAIL -- Timeline

• BLOOD TRAIL - Who, What, Where …
• Latest 100 'Blood Trail' Posts on the Free Republic
• FR Bloodhounds on Yahoo

LIDDY DOLE'S RED CROSS RUNS AMOK

BLOOD TRAIL: THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 1 -- HOW BLOOD, THE 'GIFT OF LIFE,' BECAME A BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: September 24, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 19:45:35 PDT by Wallaby (348)

TOP 50 MUST READ BLOOD TRAIL: THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 2 - THE LOOSE WAY THE FDA REGULATES BLOOD INDUSTRY Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: September 25, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 20:45:42 PDT by Wallaby (347)

BLOOD TRAIL: THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 3 -- FEAR OF AIDS SPURS CHANGE Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: TUESDAY September 26, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 21:00:40 PDT by Wallaby (346)

BLOOD TRAIL: THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 4 -- RED CROSS: FROM DISASTER RELIEF TO BLOOD Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: WEDNESDAY September 27, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 21:44:11 PDT by Wallaby (345)

TOP 50 MUST READ BLOOD TRAIL: BLOOD BROKERS, PART 5, LAST IN SERIES -- AMERICA: THE OPEC OF THE GLOBAL PLASMA Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: September 28, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 22:14:30 PDT by Wallaby (344)

---

Blood money: what Red Cross donors didn’t know (1976)

Red Cross Going to Refuse Money Raised by Hillary Protest Banner Auction

[riverdawg]

"Clinton is guilty, at least, of reckless endangerment."

I agree. I just pointed out that this *particular protester* - infected with HIV and HCV (but, apparently, not with HBV) - could not have reasonably expected the donated blood he received in the 1970's to be free of the viruses he contracted.

[T'wit]

I'm afraid I don't get your point. The article says nothing about effective screening before "September, 1991." The fact that they couldn't have been screened out earlier doesn't mean they didn't come from Arkansas. Clinton's partners in the diseased blood business did start shipping in the late 1970s, so it is perfectly possible the protestor was infected by it. He has good reason to protest.

[Old Professer]

There's a reason why temples are built over graveyards.

[T'wit]

>> 2) screens for HBV did not eliminate HIV and HCV from donated blood.

No, of course not. But the docs were learning. One thing they found was that testing for Hep A and B was highly predictive for the new "non-A, non-B" strain and for HIV. Had this been known sooner, and had anyone been able to overcome the lethargy of public health officials, this research could have helped screen donors. It was already well known that prison populations were heavy risks for many diseases, but this info was ignored by the Clintons and their friends in the tainted blood business. To them, the prison farm was just an ultra-cheap source of blood plasma. That was how they spread blood-borne viral diseases all over the world.

[syriacus]

I just pointed out that this *particular protester* - infected with HIV and HCV (but, apparently, not with HBV) - could not have reasonably expected the donated blood he received in the 1970's to be free of the viruses he contracted.

I guess I'm missing some finer point here.

Clinton was almost certainly aware that blood products from the Arkansas prisoners, whether tested our not, were forbidden for use in the US during his time as governor.

If the products were too risky for folks in the US, how could Clinton assume they were not risky for the folks in other countries?

[riverdawg]

"... it is perfectly possible the protester was infected by it."

I agree. However, the screening technology at the time of his infection - the 1970's - would not have necessarily protected him from HIV and HCV (the viruses he contracted) even if Clinton was not negligent, since those two viruses had not yet been identified. It is true, as Plasmaman pointed out, that HBV screening at the time would have eliminated most (but, again, not all) HIV and HCV transfusion infections. However, the protester's transfused blood would have slipped through this screen since his apparently was not HBV-infected.

[T'wit]

>> However, the screening technology at the time of his infection - the 1970's - would not have necessarily protected him from HIV and HCV (the viruses he contracted)

This the point that puzzles me. (I'm not trying to argue with you, just to understand.)

No, the screening of the era would not have protected this guy (or anyone else). So what? Does it exonerate Clinton from KNOWINGLY distributing HIV-contaminated blood? Yes (at that early date, anyway). Does it mean Clinton is blameless? Heavens, no. It was still a swindle hidden away behind state prison walls. The doctor who ran the scam was a U.S. public health officer who knew he was flouting FDA rules against using prison blood.

Keep in mind also that the protestor did not receive a transfusion. He got factor 8, a blood clotting agent made from POOLED plasma. One bad unit, the whole batch is infected. With prison plasma, every batch was infected.

[riverdawg]

I agree with almost everything you said, especially that Clinton is certainly not blameless for allowing contaminated blood from Arkansas prisioners to be distributed to other countries. My point about this particular protester is simply that he would be a more credible and (to me) sympathetic witness for Clinton's complicity in the "blood scandal" had he been infected with HBV (which could have been effectively screened with the available technology) rather than HIV and HCV, neither of which were detectable at the time.

Regarding the medium for Clotting Factor 8, I recall (but could be wrong) that in the 1970's and 1980's, unless the recipient made special arrangements with friends or relatives to donate whole blood in advance, a fractional distillate from pooled plasma was transfused. Today, of course, factor 8 can be manufactured with recombinant technology that is unrelated to donated blood.

[T'wit]

>> he would be a more credible and (to me) sympathetic witness for Clinton's complicity in the "blood scandal" had he been infected with HBV (which could have been effectively screened with the available technology) rather than HIV and HCV, neither of which were detectable at the time.

OK, I see.

One could look at it exactly the other way around. Infection by HCV and HIV was characteristic of the Arkansas blood; HBV was not (I don't recall it ever being reported). Therefore this protester's specific afflictions do tend to point back to the Arkansas scheme.

As for Clinton, I don't think he's off the hook just because tests were not available at first. He knew it was a good-ol'-boy swindle, and we are certain he got paid off big-time for it. Causing loss of life in the commission of some (other) felony is murder.

There is more. Clinton kept protecting the program AFTER testing was available and after the whole business had to be shut down a couple of times due to filthy conditions and contamination. In other words, the public health disaster didn't matter a fig to him. We had reason to believe the scheme was pumping 8,000 units a week at $50 (or more) per unit just from Cummins. Bill and Hill were suspected of getting one third of that. Readers can do the math.

>> a fractional distillate from pooled plasma was transfused.

I'll be darned, I never heard that. Thanks for the correction. Laz and Plas, can you shed more light on this?

[T'wit]

>> how could Clinton assume they were not risky for the folks in other countries?

Plenty of the tainted product came right back to this country from Canadian processing. The U.S. hemophiliac population was decimated, and very early, though all the public heard about was AIDS in the gay world.

We suspect -- but were never able to prove -- that a goodly amount of the prison blood was illegally processed by U.S. pharmaceuticals, which had far greater capacity than the one in Canada. Perhaps someday whistleblowers will come forward with the rest of the story.

[syriacus]

Thanks for the info, T'wit.

[Osage Orange]

There is no statute of limitations on murder. Clinton and his Arkansas buddies could still get their desserts.

Yeah, when green poka-dotted pigs fly around the moon.....

Or when Sick and his good 'ol boys meet their maker.

[T'wit]

>> when green poka-dotted pigs fly around the moon.....

Sounds like a potential Country-Western hit!

[Churchillspirit]

We can all live in hope (That is hope with a small 'h').

[piasa]

bump

[\/\/ayne]

I remember a few things about this. Governor Clinton sold a lot of tainted blood drawn from prisoners to Northern Canada and other foreign countries. The Arkansas prison doctor collected a lot of evidence but with "the fix in," he was afraid and wrote it up as a novel. His house with all the evidence burned down about the same time as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warehouse containing all their evidence burned down.

I remember Newsmax had interviewed some prisoners - the prison re-used needles without sterilization. The prison blood product factory was like a horror house of prison infections passing to every prisoner who participated and ensuring that a high percentage of the blood product was tainted.

Then Governor Bruce Babbitt was doing the same thing in Arizona colluding with Governor Clinton. Later Clinton appointed Babbitt as the United States Secretary of the Interior.