BRITISH REPORT ON BLOOD SCANDAL TARGETS U.S. FIRMS, USE OF PRISON INMATES

Without naming names, a British report on the use of contaminated blood that infected some 5,000 hemophiliacs says a "significant burden of responsibility" belongs to US firms that supplied the blood in the 1970s and 1980s. Said the report:

"Long after alarms had been founded about the risks of obtaining paid-for blood donations from communities with an increased incidence of relevant infections, such as prison inmates, this practice continued. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that commercial interests took precedence over public health concerns."

The report provides further confirmation of the Review's coverage of the blood scandal, including the substantial involvement of Arkansas prisons when Bill Clinton was governor of the state.