Army axes pioneer of multi-million pound blood process

AN ARMY colonel behind a revolutionary new method of freezing blood that will earn millions for the Exchequer has been made redundant, it was disclosed yesterday.

Colonel Michael Thomas, commanding officer of the Army Blood Supply Depot in Aldershot, Hampshire, received the news last month as negotiations to market the process were being finalised. 'It was a bit of a shock to get the brown envelope - especially with the involvement in this project going on at the time,' he said.

Col Thomas was present last Friday when the Ministry of Defence signed an agreement with the Dutch blood distribution specialists NPBI to carry out the necessary trials to make the frozen blood commercially available. Once the trials are complete the blood will be sold world-wide under licence to the British government, bringing in millions in royalties every year.

Until now blood has had a very short shelf-life - just five weeks - making it difficult to stockpile for war or other impending disasters.

The new Army process, which comes after 20 years of experimentation, mixes the blood with a non-toxic starch solution and then freezes it rapidly by plunging it into liquid nitrogen.

The frozen blood can then be ready for emergency use within 10 minutes, simply by thawing it in a bucket of water.

The United States is expected to buy the process as its system is not working, Col Thomas said.

There could be many other spin- offs - for example, blood could be stored at airports for immediate access in a disaster, and individuals will be able to store their own blood in case they ever need a transfusion.

Col Thomas, who was also responsibe for organising the collection and transport of emergency blood supplies for civilian hospitals in Bosnia, has 12 months in which to find another job.