Fund Helps Offset Tainted Blood Supply

Thu., March 30, 1995

Compiled From Wire Services

The government, pharmaceutical companies and blood centers have created a $175 million fund for 1,300 Germans infected with the AIDS virus from tainted blood products, officials said Wednesday.

But a group representing hemophiliacs called the fund inadequate and vowed to press for more money.

People who received HIV-infected blood products before 1988 will get monthly checks ranging from $1,050 to $2,100, said Health Minister Horst Seehofer.

About 450 relatives will get $700 monthly.

More than 600 hemophiliacs have died of AIDS contracted from contaminated blood products. Five employees of a blood products company have been on trial since last year on charges of knowingly selling AIDS-tainted plasma.

Unlike in France, where four highranking officials have been jailed and three Cabinet members charged in a similar scandal, the tainted blood products in Germany were distributed by private companies, not a state blood bank.

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Fund Helps Offset Tainted Blood Supply

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