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Laurent Fabius, the former prime minister of France, and Georgina Dufoix, his
social affairs minister, have been acquitted of negligence in their handling of
the issue of blood contaminated with HIV in the early 1980s
(This Week, 6 March, p 22).
But Edmond Hervé, the health minister at the time, was found
guilty of allowing contaminated blood products to be used for two months after
safer alternatives were available. He had also failed to offer people tests
after they had received blood transfusions. The court decided not to impose a
sentence because of the intense publicity surrounding the case.