Injections Made from AIDS-infected Blood Are in Use

Blood infected with HIV/AIDS were used in blood transfusion during surgery and in manufacturing medicine that is on sale now, an opposition lawmaker claimed.

According to documents disclosed by Goh Gyung-hwa, a member of the main opposition Grand National Party, blood donated by an HIV positive person identified by his surname Kim (22) was transfused last December to a 27 year-old woman injured in a car accident. This June, 3,798 bottles of albumin manufactured from his blood were released to the market.

In October 2004, 23,006 bottles of albumin and globulin were manufactured from the blood of another HIV positive person Kang (25), and they were trucked out of a warehouse this May.

Rep. Goh claimed that the Korea Red Cross, even after finding out about these facts, didn’t submit any written report to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the ministry hasn’t informed the public of this, suggesting the possibility of a concealment attempt.

“It was three to six days after the Red Cross reported to the Korea Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about this that the agency ordered the pharmaceutical company to discard only unused blood and keep the manufactured medicine for sale,” she added.

The Health Ministry defended itself at a briefing, saying, “We permitted the sale of albumin manufactured from HIV/AIDS-infected blood in light of the FDA’s conclusion that the blood was safe to use after undergoing virus inactivation process.”

Dong-Yong Min Hee-Kyung Kim mindy@donga.com susanna@donga.com