Penrose 16.44 

From the position adopted by Professor Zuckerman at the end of 1988 through to September 1989, expert opinion was consistent in the UK and more widely. Dr Ruthven Mitchell (SNBTS, Glasgow) attended and produced a report of proceedings at an international meeting on HCV, organised by Ortho and held in Rome on 14-15 September 1989.[68] There had been discussion at the conference on the prevalence and sequelae of NANB Hepatitis. Dr Mitchell's report stated that about10%of persons transfused developed NANB Hepatitis.

Penrose 16.42 

However, in general, interest came increasingly to focus on the Chiron/Ortho test. It was in that context that political interest was aroused by articles in The Guardian[65] and The Scotsman[66] in August 1989 that were likely to cause public concern. The article in The Guardian, for example, stated that '6000 people last year may have received blood transfusions contaminated with hepatitis C'. There was official reaction to the media comment.