Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - 29 August 1996
Takeshi Abe, a leading authority on hemophilia who helped shape Japanese health policy during the 1980s, faces charges of professional negligence resulting in death, prosecutors said.
They allege that Abe's negligence directly lead to the death of a hemophiliac patient who died of AIDS after being treated with tainted blood products in mid-1985.
Abe not only failed to warn other doctors in his department at Teikyo University Hospital of the risk of the unheated blood products, but continued allowing them to use the products, prosecutors said.
Abe's arrest is the latest in a criminal investigation aimed at finding out why major drug companies and the Health Ministry failed to heed warnings from the U.S. in 1983 that unheated blood products were dangerous.
As head of the ministry's panel on AIDS policy in 1983-84, Abe opposed the approval of safer, heat-treated products.
The government has admitted it knew of the risks of the unheated blood as early as 1983, when the heat-treated products became available. But it did not approve the new products until 1985.
The delay proved fatal for hundreds of hemophiliacs. From 1983 to 1985, about 2,000 hemophiliacs in Japan contracted the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, through infusions of tainted blood products. More than 400 have died.
Abe has denied he knew of the risk. He has also said there was not enough heat-treated blood products in Japan at the time to fill the needs of hemophiliacs.
If convicted, the 80-year-old Abe could face up to five years in prison.
Earlier this year, the government and five pharmaceutical firms agreed to an out-of-court settlement with affected patients and their families who had sued for damages.
Criminal investigations have broadened recently, however.
Abe's arrest today comes a week after prosecutors in Osaka began a criminal investigation into Green Cross Corp., which is accused of selling unheated blood products even after learning in 1983 that the blood could infect users with AIDS.
Japanese media reports have speculated that Abe may have opposed introducing the heated blood products to help Green Cross, which was falling behind foreign competitors in developing safer blood products.
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