News
Guardian exposes 'appalling' Government actions.
Monday 26 January 2009
An article in today's Guardian newspaper details the response given to a parliamentary question by MP Jenny Willott regarding the witholding of Freedom of Information documents. The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains how 35 documents are currently being witheld by the government, 'many on the grounds of comercial interest'. She goes on to say that, had the government backed Lord Archer's public inquiry, these documents would have been accessed by the panel who could then have used the 'potentially crucial' information contained within them.
Jenny Willot comments on the governmen't's actions and say that they 'cannot hide forever'. She comments on the relatively small number of people who are still surviving, and the families of those who have died:
"Over three-quarters of those who contracted HIV through contaminated NHS blood are now dead," she said. "The surviving victims' health has been ruined and thousands of others suffer from the daily effects of hepatitis C infection. Yet the UK government has consistently resisted calls for an inquiry. How can the government put private companies' interests, dating back to the 1980s, ahead of the right of the infected and the families of the deceased to know how this dreadful saga was able to happen?"
Click on this link for the full article: