Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada
The tainted blood disaster, or the tainted blood scandal, was a Canadian public health crisis in the 1980s in which thousands of people were exposed to HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products. It became apparent that inadequately-screened blood, often coming from high-risk populations, was entering the system through blood transfusions. It is now considered to be the largest single (preventable) public health disaster in the history of Canada.The Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, more commonly referred to as the Krever Commission or Krever Inquiry, was a royal commission of inquiry into the tainted blood scandal, investigating how the Canadian Red Cross and the provincial and federal governments allowed contaminated blood into the healthcare system.Established by the Canadian Government in October 1993 and headed by Justice Horace Krever, the Krever Commission is one of the most high-profile public inquiries in Canadian history and is seen as bringing the scandal into the public eye.Over 30,000 Canadians were infected with hepatitis C between 1980 and 1990 and approximately 2,000 Canadians were infected with HIV between 1980 and 1985. Around 8,000 of those who received tainted blood died or are expected to die as a result. Some blood products were also sent abroad, infecting people in Japan, Germany, and Britain.