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After six years of dilly-dallying and excuse-making, the feds now appear poised to extend compensation to all victims who contracted Hepatitis C because of Canada's tainted blood disater, regardless of date of infection. The change in policy -- announced last week but with details still to come -- should finally extend relief to the so-called "forgotten" victims who were infected before the government's cruelly arbitrary cutoff date of 1986 and post-1990. We suspect the change of heart came about more because of an embarrassing surplus in the compensation fund than because it was the right thing to do. After all,...

Former President William Jefferson Clinton formerly opens his Presidential Center, which will hold the papers from his two term presidency.Attending the ceremony will be President George W. Bush, former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, along with First Lady Laura Bush ,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rosalyn Carter and Barbara Bush.

President Clinton's new presidential library, which is being dedicated at a gala ceremony today, has already triggered a politically charged battle over whether the museum's exhibits present a skewed view of history. The $165 million facility opened yesterday for brief tours by members of the press. Reporters quickly noted that the exhibits present Mr. Clinton in a uniformly flattering light, while omitting or downplaying facts that the former president and his allies might view as inconvenient. At several points, the museum's displays also disparage Mr. Clinton's political adversaries. An alcove entitled "The Fight for Power" depicts Mr. Clinton's impeachment as...

The Haemophilia Foundation of New Zealand has renewed calls for a public inquiry into the past management of the national blood system. The renewed call came after it was revealed three New Zealanders are among 1500 plaintiffs world-wide in a class action against major American pharmaceutical companies over the use of blood products taken from high-risk populations such as prison inmates, intravenous drug-users and urban homosexual communities, claiming they were exposed to HIV and hepatitis C. The haemophiliacs received the potentially contaminated imported blood-clotting agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Foundation president Mike Carnahan said it was high time the...

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...

Dole praised as Red Cross head, but problems from her time remain By SCOTT MOONEYHAM, , Associated Press Writer RALEIGH, N.C.(AP) - When Elizabeth Dole took control at the American Red Cross, the organization had never been more troubled. Tainted blood collected by the charity had infected hundreds of people with AIDS and hepatitis. Congressional hearings were under way to examine blood handling procedures and the safety of the blood supply. Soon, the Food and Drug Administration was breathing down the agency's neck to try to bring the problems under control. In Dole's own words, "Blood was about to...

By Amran Abocar in TorontoNovember 22 2002 Police have laid criminal charges against four doctors, the Canadian Red Cross Society and a United States pharmaceutical company after a five-year investigation into tainted blood.In one of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history, thousands of blood transfusion recipients contracted the AIDS and hepatitis C viruses from contaminated blood and blood products during the 1980s. Many of them have died.On Wednesday the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the accused failed to inform the public about the risk of HIV and hepatitis infections from unscreened blood and failed to test donated blood for...

TORONTO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Police laid criminal charges against four doctors, the Canadian Red Cross Society and a U.S. pharmaceutical company on Wednesday after a five-year investigation into the country's tainted blood tragedy of the 1980s. During that decade, thousands of blood transfusion recipients in Canada contracted the AIDS and hepatitis C viruses from contaminated blood and blood products. Many of them have died. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the accused failed to inform the public about the risk of HIV and hepatitis infections from unscreened blood and also failed to test donated blood for the hepatitis C...

TORONTO (CP) - Before having his wisdom teeth removed, Scott Hemming, a hemophiliac, had a blood transfusion. It was 1987 and the carefree 20-year-old hadn't even heard of tainted blood. The results of the blood transfusion eventually took away his health, his career and his home, and caused him and his family unspeakable anxiety. At one time, Canada's blood scandal made for daily headlines. But even after it disappeared from news pages, victims such as Hemming continued living with the consequences every day. But days like Wednesday give Hemming, who contracted hepatitis C through the blood transfusion, hope. Criminal charges...

(New York-AP) -- Senator Charles Schumer of New York is asking the Federal Drug Administration to remove its ban on blood imported from Europe. The FDA enacted a partial ban on the imported blood in May over fears of mad cow disease. That ban will go into full effect in October.But the Senator says that there has never been a case of someone getting mad cow disease from blood anywhere in the world, so the ban is unnecessaryExtending his own forearm today to help replenish local blood supplies, the democrat said that lagging donations have created a severe decline in...

News Plan for using US blood sparks new fear     Aug 17 2002   By Amanda Crook, The Journal   The Government was last night forced to defend its plans to use plasma from America for young children as a precaution against the human form of mad cow disease.Blood safety campaigners - whose relatives were infected with HIV and hepatitis from US blood products - say they are worried by the announcement and have little confidence in Department of Health assurances.The product is intended for children born after 1995 as they would not have been exposed to BSE...

SUNDAY EXPRESSPoliticians may face criminal charges over infected blood. EXCLUSIVE BY LUCY JOHNSTON Health Editor FORMER Tory and Labour ministers could face criminal charges over the use of contaminated blood in the NHS which infected thousands with HIV and hepatitis C. The Association of Chief Police Officers is to examine evidence which reveals key health and Treasury officials across two decades ignored repeated warnings that blood products used in the UK were putting lives at risk. Terence Grange, chairman of ACPO’s personal crime division, has written to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if there is enough evidence for...

Medical Council launches blood probe[Posted: Mon 12/08/2002]exclusive by Fergal BowersIn a dramatic development, the Irish Medical Council has served an order on the Blood Bank to hand over documents relating to the hepatitis C infection scandal so that it can conduct a formal inquiry into its former Medical Director, Dr Terry Walsh.Irishhealth.com has learned that the Medical Council, which polices doctors' behaviour, has issued an order on the Irish Blood Transfusion Service under legislation, for documentation produced for the Finlay Blood Tribunal.It is the first time that any person in the blood infection controversy has been ordered to an...

Owen demands inquiry into infected blood scandal James Meikle, health correspondentMonday August 19, 2002The Guardian Lord Owen, who was a Labour health minister from 1974 to 1976, has alleged that maladministration by his former department contributed to the scandal in which thousands of patients became infected by contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s. He wants an inquiry into how a promise he made that Britain would be self-sufficient in supplies of clotting factors was not fulfilled and says the government must compensate thousands of people suffering from haemophilia believed to be infected with hepatitis C. The former...

NewsCriminal probe into bad blood considered Aug 14 2002 By The Journal One of the country's top police officers has taken up the case of haemophiliacs who became infected with hepatitis C and HIV through contaminated blood products. Terence Grange, in charge of investigations affecting forces across the country, is now looking at the legal issues involved in a prosecution over the way contaminated blood was used in the NHS. Mr Grange, chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police and chairman of the ACPO Personal Crime Business Area, is "in charge of any investigations of national importance which affect all forces...

Blood bank board meets over Hep C diagnosis delays July 31, 2002 (22:07) The Board of the blood bank met in Dublin tonight to discuss the delay in contacting 28 people to inform them that they could have been told about their Hepatitis C diagnosis more than a year before they actually were. The Blood Transfusion Service publicly committed itself to telling the group of 28 as quickly as possible, but seven weeks later they still have not been informed. A spokeswoman for the blood bank declined to comment on tonight's meeting only to say that a meeting with...

Tests reveal CJD blood risk Tests reveal CJD blood risk James Meikle, health correspondentSaturday August 3, 2002The Guardian Scientists say there is "an appreciable risk" of people catching the human form of BSE through blood transfusions, a significant upgrading of the threat posed by the inevitably fatal disease. The results from tests on sheep, seen by the Guardian, suggest the danger is far more serious than first suspected. Previously the risk has been described by the government as "theoretical". One in six animals given blood from infected sheep appear to have caught the disease so far. The experiments by...

. Today's Active Topics     my profile | register | search | faq | forum home     » Free Dominion  » News Discussion  » FD Exclusive  » Paul Martin's legacy of dead Canadians UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!     Author Topic: Paul Martin's legacy of dead Canadians Entropy Squared Admin Member # 5 posted 07-14-2002 10:41 PM                           This guy wants to be Prime Minister Files missing, victims charge Mark Kennedy, for the Calgary Herald July 28, 1999 Canada's hemophiliacs are alleging that the federal government may have destroyed documents...

Monday, 8 July, 2002, 13:37 GMT 14:37 UK New hope for Aids vaccine Most of the world cannot afford Aids treatments A US biotechnology company has been giving details of a vaccine against Aids, which it hopes could be available by 2005, to delegates attending the International Aids Conference in Barcelona. Q&A: Potential HIV vaccine - click here.The head of VaxGen, Donald Francis, told the meeting the vaccine worked on chimpanzees and said he was optimistic it would also work on humans. Mr Francis said the results of trials on humans would be available next year. I think we...

Agonising wait for treatment By Louella HouldcroftThe Journal A haemophiliac who went on a treatment strike more than two years ago after being turned down for the safest blood products by a North-East hospital has been told it will be at least another six months before he is given the new course. Peter Longstaff, from Jesmond, Newcastle, became infected with HIV and hepatitis C after being given contaminated human blood products on the NHS.He is one of more than 4,500 haemophiliacs across the UK who became infected with one or both of the viruses during the 1970s and 80s...