A statement on the heat treatment of the AIDS virus made in the Dail in 1985 by the health minister, Mr Barry Desmond, may not have been based on data he received from the Blood Transfusion Service Board, a former senior official of the Department of Health conceded yesterday.
Dr James Walsh, the senior official responsible for co-ordinating the fight against AIDS in the Republic, reiterated evidence he gave previously to the Lindsay tribunal in which he said he was shocked to learn that blood products were not being heated after January 1985.
Mr Desmond had confirmed to the Dail that that was the position, on the basis of the briefing information he was furnished with. Mr Michael McNulty SC, for the tribunal, asked Dr Walsh what part he played in briefing the minister.
He asked in particular about a World Health Organisation conference Dr Walsh had attended in Atlanta on April 18th and 19th, 1985, where technical guidelines concerning the heat treatment of blood products were discussed.
A paper read at this conference recommended blood products should be exposed to temperatures of 56 degrees for 30 minutes before being transmitted "to reduce their infectivity by 2 logs".
Mr Desmond, in his statement to the Dail, had mentioned heat treatment of 56 degrees or higher. The evidence had been that the BTSB never used "56 degrees" in its recommendations on heat treatment, said Mr McNulty. They used "60 degrees". He was concerned where the person who prepared the document for the minister got his information.
Dr Walsh replied that he would have given information concerning any epidemiological data contained in such a statement. Any technical information such as the temperature at which blood products were to be heat-treated would have come "from someone else". He would, however, respect the BTSB's own guideline as they would have access to expert haematologist opinion.
It was possible he might have written down "56 degrees" from the data supplied at Atlanta, he said.
"Could that [WHO] document have been received by the Department of Health?" asked counsel for the BTSB. "Is it possible that the reference in the note for the minister might have come from this document rather than anyone in the BTSB?"
Counsel added: "The tribunal has heard that the information came from the BTSB. It's more likely that it came from the WHO document." That was feasible, Dr Walsh replied.
He was asked about his statement to the tribunal in which he said Dr Michael O'Riordan, medical director of the BTSB, had indicated to Prof Ian Temperley, the former medical director of the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre, on January 2nd, 1985, that the board was paying "urgent attention" to the matter of heat treatment.
"It's clear from that letter that no one in the BTSB was saying they were heating products from January 1st, 1985." Dr Walsh agreed.