it was accepted that the blood for transfusions was a product for the purposes of the Act. The claimants were all people who had been infected with hepatitis C virus through having transfusions of contaminated blood. The blood had been taken from donors who were infected with the virus; at the time of the transfusions it was known within the medical profession, that there was a risk of passing on the virus that way, though there was no way of testing the blood to make sure it was not contaminated.