We were shocked yesterday to see this clip accusing Bayer of selling medicine they knew was infected with AIDS, but maybe we should’ve been shocked back in the mid 80’s.

As the clip reveals, Bayer’s hemophilia medicine, containing donated blood plasma, was pulled off the American market because it was HIV-positive. The pharma company then sold the medicine in European, Asian and Latin American markets. Horrible, but history.

In 1987, Bayer was sued for the sale of the infected Factor VIII. The video above was taken from an MSNBC broadcast on August 22, 2003, according to this transcript. The story’s been scaring a pack of bloggers after the clip was posted to YouTube on April 2 of this year and popularized through postings on Myspace and Livejournal.

According to a statement made by the company to the New York Times in 1987, Bayer has been screening, since early 1985, all donated blood plasma for AIDS, “and the drug is now believed to be AIDS-free.”

Related: “New Book Chronicles The Early Fight Against AIDS” [Columbia University News via Occult Design] (Thanks to Nicholas!)

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