P ARIS - One of the most publicized court cases modern French history during today's trial of former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and two former ministers, who are accused of "manslaughter" and "involuntary assault on the physical integrity of persons" to have measures which have been delayed to protect the supply of blood and blood products to the nation from contamination by HIV. Pasteur Institute virologist Luc Montagnier and other top AIDS researchers should be called to the stand to testify
the case concerns the actions of Fabius and his two co-accused. - former social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix and former Secretary of State for Health Edmond Hervé - during the critical period between 1983, when HIV was was first isolated and 1985, while measures to try and protect the blood supply came into force in France. The three ministers are accused of having delayed the approval of an HIV test in France for several months in 1985. Dufoix and Hervé are also accused of delaying HIV destroys the heat treatment of blood products for hemophiliacs up that the existing supply of untreated products was exhausted. In previous tests, many doctors have been convicted of related charges, and more than 30 other defendants can be tried in the scandal, which was dragged for nearly 12 years ( Science , 16 June 1995, p. 1563).
in total, several dozen scientists, doctors, administrators and politicians should testify before the Court of the Republic, a special tribunal of jurists and parliamentarians that was created for testing former Justice Ministers . The testimony of AIDS researchers aims to shed light on key scientific issues in the case: What ministers know the AIDS epidemic, and when did they know? In particular, the court probing whether the French authorities have delayed the use of a blood test done by the American company Abbott Laboratories, based on the work of Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute, to give the French company Pasteur Diagnostics time to market its own version, based on the work of Montagnier group.
"We were called to put things in the context of the knowledge of the time," says immunologist Jean Claude Gluckman of the Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, a member of the team first isolated HIV. But some witnesses researchers have strongly differing views on critical issues in the trial, which may make conflicting evidence. "Even if this testimony is inconsistent, it has light information available to the political leaders of the time, "says Axel Kahn, a geneticist at the Institute Cochin the trial is expected to last several weeks. if convicted, the defendants face up to 3 years in prison and heavy fines.
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