Pathologists and hospitals were paid by a pharmaceutical company for removing and storing pituitary glands taken from dead patients during postmortem examinations and which were later used in the production of a growth hormone.
In a statement last night, Pharmacia Ireland said that one of its predecessor companies Kabi Vitrum Ltd had, in the 1980s, obtained pituitary glands from a number of hospitals to manufacture Crescormon, a human growth hormone.
"Kabi provided reimbursement to pathologists and hospitals for the work involved. The sum was intended solely to defray any additional costs required to remove and store the pituitary glands," the statement said.
A spokesman said that the amounts involved were small - about £1 or £2 per gland - and that the money went primarily to hospitals. However, a number of hospitals and health boards have denied that the practice occurred for monetary gain.
The Master of the Coombe Hospital, Dr Sean Daly, in a statement to The Irish Times last night suggested that hospitals had to donate pituitary glands to secure growth hormones for other patients at a time of global shortage.
The controversy over the removal of pituitary glands escalated yesterday as it was confirmed that more hospitals had engaged in the practice.
The representative group for those involved, Parents for Justice, expressed its shock at the revelations and strongly criticised the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, for his handling of the investigation into the issue.
It also demanded the abolition of the Dunne Inquiry which the Minister previously established to look into the organ retention controversy.
Parents for Justice chairwoman Ms Fionnuala O'Reilly said she wanted to know the identities of the pathologists who received money and of the contact person in the hospitals who could organise the dispatch of pituitary glands.
She said the inquiry into organ retention, headed by senior counsel Ms Anne Dunne, had been sitting for over three years, had cost more than €15 million and had so far produced no conclusions.
The new developments in the pituitary gland controversy arose from a second statement issued by Pharmacia Ireland to the Dunne Inquiry last May.
Based on this new information Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin last week told around 20 parents that organs taken from their children had been given to the pharmaceutical company.
The Irish Times revealed on Saturday that two former Dublin hospitals, the Richmond and Jervis Street, had also provided pituitary glands "for research" to the company. Over the weekend it emerged that pituitary glands were taken from patients at Cork University Hospital and the Coombe Hospital in Dublin. Last night, the Southern Health Board said that the practice had also occurred at Tralee General Hospital.
Pharmacia last night said that glands were obtained during postmortem examinations, consistent with prevailing medical standards. The pituitary glands were used to manufacture Crescormon, a growth hormone intended to help children with growth deficiency to reach normal adult height.
The practice ceased in the mid-1980s with the development of a synthetic component.
The Southern Health Board last night said that there were no financial transactions involved.
Dr Daly said he regretted that the practice had occurred without the consent of the parents. However, he said it was done for the best intentions and not for monetary gain.
"This was an international programme set up in response to a global shortage of growth hormones and each country received growth hormone protein pro rata to the level it had donated," he said.
However, a spokesman for Pharmacia Ireland last night denied that there had been any such arrangement.
Background to the controversy; Full statements from Pharmacia and Coombe Hospital; Parents criticise Martin over organ investigation: page 5
