I am not sure why this is a scandal now
Haemophilia was treated by pooled plasma and there wasnt enough so Armor Factor VIII was bought in. It was known at the time that the blood product was from prisoners drug addicts and so on
The history is here
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp038194#t=article
Gallo and Montagnier discovered HIV in 1981 but by then Armor Factor 8 had been given for four years. Interesting times - Gallo had stolen Monatagnier's virus samples and passed them off as his own.
Only virus ( I discovered it first) dispute to be solved by .... international treaty. ( France and US agreed not to litigate over it)
They of course were investigating GRID ( gay related immune deficiency), and the more it was gay related the less they could understand how it was that Haemophiliacs got it ( rather than some other disease)
The first testing for HIV was 1985 - seven years after the factor VIII change.
Hep C was in the mixed bag in the seventies ( hey its lucky you have me that worked in a lab then huh ?). Hep A was infectious (vaccine then was other mens serum hahaha good one huh ? called passive immunity) - Hep B serum hepatitis - which also had an odd sexual element that no one understood.
The Hep B outbreak in Ediburgh - subject of 'The Houseman's Tale' was about an epidemic on a dialysis unit and cast as bad blood practices during dialysis. The alternative was that they were all screwing each other....
and there was a mixed bag called Non A Non B (NANB) Hepatitis
in which Hep C lurked. Serum testing lagged and its importance was not known for another ten years. The bag also contained D along with E and F I think. - new virus give it a new letter.
and that is the background
there was no scandal
Factor 8 was bought in even tho there could unknown viruses lurking - and a decision was made that we ( they ) needed factor 8 more than sitting around worrying about undescribed boogy-men and not treating anyone
Bad call
Tell you one thing.... I was investigated as an index case of TB on a mixed Haemophilia and leukaemia ward ( haem ward geddit) -
and everyone said ( 1981) the oddest thing is that the leukaemic whom we know are immunosuppressed havent got it and all the haemophiliacs ( who were then looked on as normal) have !
I wasnt the index case by the way -
I didnt do pathology after around 1982
Oh Slaney did - perhaps she wants to contribute