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Factor 8 and Factor 9 were made at the Plasma Fractionation Laboratory in Oxford. The number of donations in the mean pool size for Factor 8 in 1969 was 160 donations; in 1970 it was 192 and the same in 1971. In terms of Factor 9, larger pools were used: in 1969, 439 donations were the average, in 1970 it was 384, and in 1971, 300.

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Dr Biggs stated "The use of freeze dried concentrate (in comparison to cryoprecipitate) did not cause a dangerous increase in episodes of jaundice".

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The pools used to manufacture Factor 8 concentrate in 1983 could be almost 40 times as large as the number of donations used to treat patients at Oxford in 1971.

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The number of donations rose to 6,000 donations from 1982 to 1985. This was eight times the number of donations used in 1975, and more than 30 times as much as Dr Biggs recorded for Oxford in relation to 1971.

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Dr Joseph Garrott Allen had written that the risk of serum hepatitis from transfusions derived from prison and skid row populations was at least ten times that from the use of volunteer donors.

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Dr Carol Kasper and Dr Shelly Kipnis considered the risks of taking blood products prepared from pooled plasma more directly, and wrote that for older children and adults who had had little exposure to blood products, especially those with mild haemophilia, single-donor products were preferable.

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Dr Biggs wrote about the risks of hepatitis from using pools of the sizes from which her products came noting that an exception to this rule concerns the mildly affected patients to whom very little treatment is given where those patients seemed to have a high incidence of hepatitis if large pool fractions were used.

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In March, the expert group on the treatment of haemophilia considering Hepatitis B repeated what Dr Biggs had said.

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Scotland began planning to produce high-purity Factor 8 concentrates, with a planned production capacity for the new Protein Fractionation Centre of one pool of 200 litres per week.

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An option to increase the preparation of Factor 8 concentrate was discussed.

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Dr Duncan Thomas, when advising on the application for a licence in respect of Hemofil noted his concern that the larger pools used in making the American product carried with them an increased risk of hepatitis.

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Dr Maycock accepted that all infected batches would not be excluded since the test would not pick up all levels of Hepatitis B virus. He acknowledged too that some hepatitis was caused by viruses not detected by the test.

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Dr David Owen accepted in his evidence to the Inquiry that when he was Minister of State for Health he knew the theoretical risk of hepatitis was greatest for those who had been little treated, had mild haemophilia, or were children; by the mid 1970s no-one had suggested, and no-one was suggesting, that an increase in pool size did not mean an increase in risk.

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It was known to those who prescribed the products that an increase in pool sizes led to an increase in risk of infection.

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Dr James Smith wrote a memo to Dr Richard Lane showing that it was in January 1982, at least, that 7,500 donations per bottle started to be in use.

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Dr Richard Lane responded to Dr James Smith's memo showing that it was in January 1982, at least, that 7,500 donations per bottle started to be in use.

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Dr Snape wrote a memo to Peter Prince and Dr Smith recording a figure of 25,000 donations in June 1986 (although this was after heat treatment had been introduced, and hence it was at a time when viral inactivation might reasonably have been thought to have been achieved, even though the definitive studies on hepatitis transmission had not yet shown conclusively that 8Y was free of transmitting such a virus).

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Dr Lane wrote a memo to Dr Snape noting that the number of donations per batch rose to 6,000 donations from 1982 to 1985.

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A List of Documents of the Central Blood Laboratories Authority was published recording batch histories which show an increase in pool sizes from 1978 (when batch histories begin) to 1986. They rose from 2,250 donations in a batch to 6,000.

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Regional transfusion directors met and commentary from this meeting provided evidence that the amount of plasma recovered in different regional centres varied.

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