Two Dublin maternity hospitals have admitted sending human placenta to a French firm in the early 1990s, believing that it would be used in the manufacture of cosmetics.
Mr Kevin Bryett, the then managing director of Institut Merieux in Britain, said this week that freezers were supplied to the labour wards of several Irish maternity hospitals for the storage of placentas. These were collected regularly and transported to Lyons in France, where they were processed.
Both the Coombe and Holles Street hospitals have confirmed the practice, which continued until the early 1990s. The Rotunda Hospital, according to a spokesperson, retained placentas for research purposes, but did not have a disposal arrangement with any pharmaceutical company. However, the hospital did supply umbilical cords for use in bypass surgery.
The maternity hospitals maintain that the placentas were used for the manufacture of cosmetics. Mr Bryett says that the company used the afterbirths to produce albumin. This is a protein, present in the human blood, which is used to treat victims of severe burns and road accidents.
The Master of Holles Street, Dr Declan Keane, has confirmed that the hospital supplied the pharmaceutical company until 1992. The hospital understood that the placentas were used in the production of cosmetics.
Payment was received from the company, but Dr Keane was unable to confirm the amount of this payment.
Dr Sean Daly, Master of the Coombe Women's Hospital, said they ceased supplying afterbirths in 1993. He understood that the company involved was Merieux UK, based in Chelmsford. The hospital received "a small amount of money", which was used for the education of nurses.
The hospital ceased the practice because of concerns relating to the storage of biological material.
Until 1993, the pharmaceutical company supplied a freezer which was kept outside the labour ward. The afterbirths were collected at intervals. The hospitals did not seek the consent of mothers for this practice. Placentas are considered "waste" and are now incinerated.
Dr Keane says that, out of 8,000 deliveries a year at Holles Street, about four mothers will request the return of their afterbirth. This request was always acceded to, he said.
Whether the placental tissue was used for the manufacture of a blood product or cosmetics, the revelation that women's afterbirths were passed to a third party without their specific consent is bound to cause distress.
The issue of placental retention and disposal will need to be included in the forthcoming ministerial inquiry.