Despite Danger, FDA Sanctioned Artificial Blood Studies

The Food and Drug Administration repeatedly approved experiments using artificial blood despite data showing the products to be dangerous, the Washington Post reports. Investigators from the National Institutes of Health found heart attack risk tripled and death increased by 30% for subjects in 16 studies testing five kinds of artificial blood, which, it is hoped, will ultimately provide alternative transfusions.

"They already had data that these products could cause heart attacks and evidence that they could kill," an NIH researcher said. "It didn't matter what type of patient you studied. The result was similar regardless of the company that manufactured the product or the chemical characteristics of the individual products.” (More artificial blood stories.)