'Bad Blood' follows the lives of six families during treatment for contaminated bloodContaminated blood film to denounce Factor VIII
A new film is set to condemn the actions of the American FDA in the 1970s and 1980s after they approved controversial 'miracle cures' for haemophiliacs.
'Bad Blood' by filmmaker Marilyn Ness is a documentary that tracks the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) treatment of the then new drugs known a Factor VIII and Factor IX.
The documentary tracks six families affected by the tragedy and repercussions on the doctors, nurses and scientists who cared for them.
This comes as thousands of demonstrators in the UK are preparing to march from Trafalgar Square to Westminster to protest about the lack of compensation agreed for British victims.
According to filmmaker Ness:
"Entirely dependent on medicine derived from donated human blood, hemophiliacs are the canaries in our public health system: their safety is our safety.
"Failure to adequately patrol the collection and processing of blood had dire consequences in the 1980s and 1990s. The blood supply is today free of both HIV and hepatitis, but how prepared are we to identify and stop the next source of infection?"
This film release comes after the FDA fined the American Red Cross for breaches of blood regulation procedures.
Various screenings of the film are planned in the next couple of months before it will be released on DVD.
The march for contaminated blood victims begins on 30 June at 12.30pm at Trafalgar Square and moves onto Westminster, (see map below) where some members will present letters to 10 Downing Street from victims and meet their local MPs in the lobby of Parliament.
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