Witness calls for inquiry into US pharmaceutical firms

The daughter of a haemophiliac who died from AIDS through infected blood products urged the tribunal yesterday to investigate the US pharmaceutical companies which exported infectious concentrates to Ireland.

Ms Linda Dowling said her father, Joe, was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, a number of years after he started receiving imported commercial concentrates for the treatment of severe haemophilia A.

She said she was aware from tribunal reports that concern was being expressed in the 1970s about the origin of the concentrates and said she would question "why Factor 8 was allowed into this country". The tribunal should be asking questions of the manufacturers, she said.

Ms Dowling, originally from Coolock but now living in Swords, said her father was "extremely angry and bitter" at the State's reluctance to compensate victims of HIV. His anger motivated him, however, and in June 1991 he contested the local elections to draw attention to the plight of infected haemophiliacs.

Four days after he and three other members of the Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS) declared themselves as candidates, the then minister for health, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, announced a £7 million HIV compensation package.

Ms Dowling expressed her annoyance that her father spent two "difficult" years of his life campaigning for compensation when "he could have been spending that time doing much better things".

She asked why the State had allowed it to "go so far", causing "so much distress", when "the Department of Health was aware of infections related to Factor 9 deficiency (which was treated with BTSB-made product)".

The campaign for compensation for HIV-infected haemophiliacs was launched by the IHS in April 1988. The following year, the then Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, chose to call an election rather than accept an opposition motion calling for a £400,000 hardship fund.

A former IHS vice-chairman, Mr Dowling died in 1995.

The tribunal also heard yesterday from a woman whose two brothers died from AIDS through infected products.

Using the pseudonym Una, she described how haemophilia was regarded as an embarrassing condition in the small rural community where she grew up. When her brothers found out they were HIV-positive it meant "more disgrace", she said.

Her younger brother was in his late 40s when he died in 1989. Her elder brother died three years later, in his 60s. She gave up her job in Dublin and returned home to nurse them. Because of the secrecy surrounding their condition, she had to pretend she was home "on holidays".

She said her brothers were initially treated with whole blood and cryoprecipitate for their haemophilia but later began using Factor 8, which was a "miracle for them" as it was more effective and easier to use. "It was appalling to have turned that miracle into a nightmare."

She thanked the people who had fought for the tribunal to be established as it meant her brothers had not died quietly. "This is something marvellous for them," she said.