Tag: CSL

Australia's Shame

CSL and contaminated blood scandal: UK accepts ‘moral responsibility’; Australia still silent – Michael West

CSL and contaminated blood

The UK Health Secretary has just admitted his government’s “moral responsibility” for the UK’s contaminated blood scandal of the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, the Liberal/National government still refuses to apologise and offer financial support to the up to 20,000 victims as recommended 17 years ago by a Senate Committee. And Labor, which has similarly ignored the recommendations, has just acknowledged the “historic injustice” but says it can’t do anything. Why is it so hard for the victims asks Elizabeth Minter? Is it because CSL, the darling of Australia’s business community, lies at the heart of the scandal? “The Government is just waiting for us all to die.”

Source: CSL and contaminated blood scandal: UK accepts ‘moral responsibility’; Australia still silent – Michael West

Privatisation

In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy – Michael West

infected blood scandal

Pharmaceutical giant CSL is one of Australia’s greatest corporate success stories, although its profits were forged on the sacrifice of the many thousands of Australians who gave their blood for free. In the 1980s, blood products manufactured by CSL infected thousands of Australians with Hepatitis C and HIV/Aids. Before the true extent of the medical disaster became clear, and just months before CSL’s privatisation, the then Labor government granted Commonwealth Serum Laboratories an indemnity from legal action arising from the contaminated blood. In this first part, Elizabeth Minter investigates CSL’s role. Part 2 will look at the role of the Red Cross.

Source: In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy – Michael West