Doctor Accused Of Allowing Tainted Blood

A former health official who opposed using new, safer blood products while the AIDS virus was infecting hemophiliacs was arrested Thursday on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.

Takeshi Abe, 80, a hemophilia expert and former Teikyo University vice president, is accused of allowing tainted blood products to be used even though he knew they could be deadly and a safer alternative was available.

As head of a Health Ministry panel on AIDS in 1983-84, Abe persistently opposed the approval of new blood products that had been heated to kill the AIDS virus.

The heat treatments weren’t approved until 1985.

Abe has insisted he did his best to protect patients, saying the risks of AIDS were unclear and a mass recall of blood products might have made treatment of hemophiliacs impossible.