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LONDON (AP) — A long-awaited inquiry has opened in Britain into how contaminated blood was used to treat thousands of people in the 1970s and '80s, killing at least 2,400.
Thousands of British public health patients — many of them hemophiliacs — were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C through tainted blood, much of it coming from donors including prison inmates. Authorities studied the infections, but campaigners allege they did not go far enough to get to the bottom of what happened.
Inquiry chair Brian Langstaff has promised a "thorough examination of the evidence."
Des Collins, whose firm represents more than 800 victims, says it is hoped that "those responsible — both in government and at pharmaceutical companies — will be held to account."
The inquiry could take at least 2.5 years.
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