Now here's some news that is indicative of the progress of science if ever there was. It concerns a certain Northfield Labs. What have they invented, and why is it so great? Well, it's a substance called, Polyheme, and it is-ready now-artificial blood. Synthetic, yet which can if successful adapt to a human blood supply. The uses and benefits are endless. No longer any need for dependence on human blood donors, many of whom may unknowingly or not carry diseases which might in cases go undetectd, until it is too late. A potential complete cure for blood diseases, should this substance eventually be able to replace a humans entire blood supply.
The problem is, of course, it is still in the testing phase, and will probably require some time before it is finaly if ever approved.
Now here comes the scary part. It has to be tested on humans, of course, before it can be certified as being safe. And it is being testd on humans, at various hospitals, who have gotten permission to conduct these tests without having to adhere to usual standards requiring informed consent.
In other words, if you go in for treatment, they don't necessarily have to tell you if they are testing this shit out on you. One hospital that is on the list of facilities involved in the teting of this synthetic blood is University of Kentucky Medical Center.
Thanks to Microsoft Word deciding to act up on me at the worse possible time, I no longer have the list of all the other hospitals that do, but you can find out which ones are involved by going to ABC News.com, the proper url to which I have also temporarily lost. But it should be relatively easy to find.
If you have to go to the hospital for anything more compicated than a flu shot, you might seriously want to think about looking for this list first, or especially if you have an older parent, or a siblign or child, or friend, etc. What you don't know can sometimes hurt you in more ways than you might ever imagine.
UPDATE: I've now recovered the url for the original story on ABC NEWS.com. Go there and read the story, and you will see that, if you live near one of the listed hospital,and find yourself having to avail yourself of their services, you can opt out of having a blood transfusion with this new synthetic blood by asking to be given a blue wristband, which will identify you as not willing to participate. Otherwise, you might very well find yourself in the unfotunate position of receiving what is still an experimental substance that your immune system might eventually reject. And who knows what the consequences of that might be.
I almost forgot to add, the link is in the post title.
