Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-11-Speech-2-067"

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"en.20020611.5.2-067"2
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"Mr President, in many EU countries – including my own – a lot of work still needs to be done to restore full confidence in the blood transfusion and blood products services generally after a period of tragic lapses in safety. This directive will go a long way and is extremely important because of that. I will come straight to the point I have difficulty with, and I support completely what colleagues – in particular Mr Bowis – have said. I cannot understand why blood from a remunerated source must necessarily be banned in Europe. Quite frankly, the biggest threat to our hundreds of thousands of patients in the EU who need blood and blood products is the lack of an adequate supply. The supply must be safe but, by definition, a voluntary patient who might have HIV is no safer than a person with no health problems and who is paid. It comes down to the proper screening and treatment of the product regardless of the source. We must not become emotional about this issue. I wish that all blood and blood products came from voluntary, unpaid sources. It is the ethos in my own country, and I would like to encourage it. We must encourage the public to donate blood. There is a scarcity of donations in my own country and many others. We are 50% dependent on imports into the EU. Self-sufficiency has to be a goal. However, to even consider, by definition or otherwise, banning all products that come from remunerated donors is a retrograde step. I am not alone in saying that. The voluntary organisations that look after the interests of patients who need these products are pleading with us in this Parliament and the EU not to ban all sources of paid donations. We must encourage the ethos of voluntary donation, but we cannot ban paid donations. If the patients – not the pharmaceutical or blood companies – are asking us, we should listen to them and respond to them. With the greatest of respect, it would be arrogant on our part not to do so."@en1
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