§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether products are derived from blood donations from outside(a) the United Kingdom and (b) western Europe. [20295]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 6 December 2001]: No plasma from United Kingdom donors is used in the manufacture of fractionated blood products. All blood products manufactured by the national health service-owned Bio Products Laboratory are made from plasma sourced in the United States of America. Some commercially manufactured blood products used by the NHS are derived from blood donations collected in western Europe. However, all licensed blood products must comply with European Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products requirements on selection and testing of blood donors.
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths have occurred as a result of the supply of contaminated blood products to haemophiliacs in the past 10 years; and how many of these deaths were from(a) AIDS alone, (b) hepatitis C alone and (c) from co-infection. [20294]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 December 2001]: All haemophilia patients registered with the Macfarlane Trust are co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C. 588 of these have died in the past 10 years.
Information from the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctor's Organisation shows that since 1969, 212 people with haemophilia have died from liver disease which may be related to hepatitis C infection (figures for the last 10 years are not available).