Ken Clarke said his claim almost 40 years ago that “there is no conclusive evidence that AIDS is transmitted through blood products” was “quite correct” for the time.
During the infected blood investigation at Fleetbank House in London on Wednesday, the Conservative peer defended his use of the statement in 1983.
Lord Clarke, who was Minister of Health from 1982 to 1985 and then Secretary of Health for two years from 1988, appeared as a witness.
The investigation is held to investigate the scandal of thousands of people diagnosed with HIV / AIDS and / or hepatitis after receiving treatment with infected blood products for hemophilia and other blood clotting disorders in the 1970s and 1980s.
Around 3,000 people in the UK have died in the tainted blood scandal, and the number of people infected with blood products ranges from 5,000 to 30,000. The exact number is not known.
The independent inquiry into the use of factor VIII and IX contaminated clotting agents is expected to hear testimony from Lord Clarke for three days this week.
He told the hearing that he was not the “author” of the sentence he used in a written communication to MPs and journalists, but that he agreed with its use and that ‘it be attributed to him.
The phrase was originally used in a press release in September 1983 announcing a new leaflet that was created to “discourage” people at high risk of contracting AIDS by donating blood, according to the survey.
The phrase, used when Lord Clarke was Minister of Health, read: “It has been suggested that AIDS can be transmitted through blood or blood products, there is no conclusive evidence that it so be it.
“Nonetheless, I understand the concern that this suggestion may cause.
“We must continue to minimize any possible risk of transmission of the disease through donation of blood, but it is not possible to test a person’s blood for the presence of AIDS. “
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The infected factor VIII clotting agent was made from the blood plasma of thousands of donors
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(Factor 8 Campaign / PA)
The phrase was repeated again by Lord Clarke in a written response to a parliamentary question in November 1983.
Lord Clarke told the inquest: “It was not drafted by a minister. I don’t remember who did it but obviously someone, somewhere decided that this was the best, most accurate line to take.
“It has been used several times by all the ministers. We kept repeating this because it was scientific advice we had until it was perfectly clear to the doctors that there was in fact enough evidence. [that Aids was transmitted]… We did not minimize this possibility.
“It seems to me… that’s a perfectly accurate description of medical opinion at the time. This is probably why hemophilia doctors, the real experts, still used factor VIII.
Senior Counsel Jenni Richards QC explained why the phrase “blood products are a probable cause of transmission of AIDS” was not used instead, as it was the “dominant view” within the community. Department of Health at the time, according to previous witness Dr Diana Walford. .
Lord Clarke said: “We go on to say that this is a possibility which cannot be ruled out. I do not know. You’ll have to ask Diana Walford that. She would certainly have been involved in any meeting that came to rest on that line to take.
Ms Richards asked if the line should have included an “express acknowledgment” that AIDS could be transmitted.
Lord Clarke replied: “Not really, it is perfectly obvious that everyone was working on this basis. This is only a drafting argument.
“It’s no secret that there was serious concern that people could get AIDS from blood products. “
The day before the inquest, Lord Clarke said he was “not responsible” for the blood products and had not taken any decisions about them during his tenure as Minister of Health.
Blood clotting agents have been made by pooling plasma from up to 40,000 donors and concentrating it. As there was a shortage in the UK, they were imported from the US, where people from high-risk groups – such as prisoners and drug addicts – sold their blood.
The most prescribed previous treatment was cryoprecipitate, each unit of which was derived from donor plasma.
At the time of using the infected blood, HIV had not been diagnosed for the first time and not enough was known about hepatitis. In the mid-1980s, products were heat treated to kill viruses once they were known to be transmitted through the blood.
There have also been thousands of cases of people receiving infected blood around the world, including the United States, France, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Canada, Iran and Iraq.
The investigation is continuing.
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