
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993                   TAG: 9307020092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

NEW BLOOD TRANSFUSION RULES SOUGHT

Blood centers would be held to stricter standards to minimize the risks of contracting HIV, hepatitis or any other disease from transfusions under new guidelines proposed Thursday.

David A. Kessler, head of the Food and Drug Administration, said his agency wants blood centers to prevent errors in the first place "rather than detecting them retrospectively."

The United States already has "one of the safest blood supplies in the world," Kessler said.

But "the days are long gone when collecting and providing blood was a simple operation," he said. "There has to be a change in philosophy. Blood centers are not simply providing a service, they are manufacturing a product.

"That needs to be done according to the most stringent standards possible."

The guidelines require blood centers to develop quality assurance programs similar to those in the pharmaceutical industry.

by CNB