Porter Goss: “when a teenager from Florida--Kimberly Bergalis--died as a result of the AIDS virus she contracted during a routine…”

“when a teenager from Florida--Kimberly Bergalis--died as a result of the AIDS virus she contracted during a routine visit at her dentist's office, the Nation responded with horror and calls for action. The incident--which sparked massive media interest, new legislative proposals, and full-blown congressional hearings--sounded a warning alarm in the hearts and minds of every parent. Could this happen to my child? Well, Madam Speaker, the parents and loved ones of more than 10,000 hemophiliacs doomed to the same fate have a tragic answer to that question--it can and did happen--and many say it could still happen again in spite of everything we now know about AIDS and its transmission through the Nation's blood supply. Ten thousand people, half of all hemophiliacs in America today, face almost certain death from AIDS they contracted during the 1980's, when HIV-tainted blood contaminated the blood clotting products hemophiliacs use to protect themselves from uncontrollable bleeding. It is a tragic irony that the very product--known as ``factor''--which the hemophilia community had viewed as a salvation, offering hope for healthy, active, and normal lives--ended up infecting them with a virus that eventually kills.”