Blood inquiry: Former health minister defends blood products advice on Aids

A public inquiry into the infected blood scandal has heard that the government was right to say there was "no conclusive proof" that Aids could be transmitted by blood products in 1983.

According to Lord Clarke, the phrase was entirely accurate at the time it was said. However, evidence in documents reveal senior health officials believed HIV could be carried through blood.

"Somebody, somewhere, decided that that was the best most accurate line to take. It was repeatedly used by every minister. We kept repeating that because that was the scientific advice we had until it was perfectly clear to the medics that there was in fact sufficient proof... we weren't playing down that possibility. It seems to me... it's a perfectly accurate description of where medical opinion was at that time." Lord Clarke told the inquiry. 

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Source: BBC, 28 July 2021