Infected Blood Scandal ‘Could Largely Have Been Avoided’ Says Report

The infected blood scandal “could largely have been avoided” according a report that has been published after a public inquiry which lasted for six years and cost millions of pounds. The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said a “pervasive” cover-up had been perpetrated to hide the truth and he criticised a “litany of failures” by successive governments since the early 1970s when Edward Heath was prime minister. Tens of thousands of people in the UK were infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other deadly viruses after being given contaminated blood and factor VIII products between the 1970s and the early 1990s....