British patients may have received bone grafts from contaminated body parts stolen in the US. An investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency identified 77 pieces of bone that were imported into the UK last year from the New Jersey-based Biomedical Tissue Services. Biomedical Tissue Services is accused of plundering more than 1,000 corpses for bones, ligaments, and skin before selling them for transplants. Executives have denied the charges. It is unknown whether any of the imported bone fragments were from the corpses.
Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration ordered a recall of the potentially tainted products and said many patients could have been exposed to HIV and other diseases. (Guardian)
