UK plays safe on risks from blood products

Colonic Crypts: Safe Haven from Microbial Products

The notion that the colon's deep crypt pockets provide a protected location that shields stem cells from potentially toxic substances is widely accepted. In this issue of Cell, Kaiko et al. reveal how a metabolite abundantly produced by the gut microbiota can inhibit stem cell proliferation but is blocked from doing so by crypt architecture.

Promoting safe and effective use of blood products

Science is ever changing and so is medicine. Some certainties today may not be valid tomorrow. New research, observations and outcomes can turn widely used current practices into no longer acceptable ones. Additionally, and especially in medicine, one may find more than one right answer to the same problem. Different physicians, with different backgrounds, may choose different ways to address a...

The precautionary principle and emerging biological risks: lessons from swine flu and HIV in blood products.

Two examples-the "swine flu affair" in 1976 and the emergence of HIV in the blood supply in the early 1980s-illustrate the difficulties of decision-making in public health. Both cases illustrate trade-offs between product risks and public health benefits, especially with regard to uncertainty in estimates of product risks, public health risks, and the benefits of prevention. The cases also illu...

Providing Safe and Effective Surgical Care During the COVID-19 Outbreak in the UK – Changing Strategies

Expert Consensus Statement on achieving self-sufficiency in safe blood and blood products, based on voluntary non-remunerated blood donation (VNRBD).

All countries face challenges in making sufficient supplies of blood and blood products available and sustainable, while also ensuring the quality and safety of these products in the face of known and emerging threats to public health. Since 1975, the World Health Assembly (WHA) has highlighted the global need for blood safety and availability. WHA resolutions 63·12, 58·13 and 28·72, The Melbou...