[AIDS through blood contamination (early 1980s) and urethane shock (1975)]

1) AIDS contracted through contaminated blood was first discovered in the early 1980s, and related law suits are now underway. The contamination of the blood is considered to ba a shared responsibility of the "government," "medical establishments" and "industry." The revision of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law in 1979 gave the authority for commanding the recall of products to the Health and Welfare Ministry. This was a lesson learned from past cases of drug-induced suffering. However, the ministry did nothing regarding the blood contaminated with the AIDS virus. 2) "Urethane shock (drug-induced suffering)" occurred in 1975. Although it occurred before the revision of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, the Health and Welfare Ministry took the administrative measure of "an immediate recall," because the antipyretic analgesic injections used all over the country at that time contained 0.15 to 0.3g of urethane which is a carcinogenic substance, per ampoule. 3) Even the revision of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law could not prevent cases of drug-induced suffering. I think that all concerned should have a full understanding, receive fair judgement and be encouraged to prevent such mistakes in the future.