ory of Dr. Krijnen this symposium will therefore be dedicated to him. Since the lOth International Symposium on Blood Transfusion in 1985 highlighted the theme of "Future developments in blood banking", major changes have occurred in the blood banking world. Most of these changes were forced upon the Blood Banks by the fear of spreading AIDS through contaminated donations. This not only led to the wide­ spread testing of blood, but also to a more appropriate counselling of the community and the blood donors in specific. Additionally, virus inacti­ vation techniques were introduced for those components derived from multiple donations and intended for a regular transfusion in haemophi­ lia patients and others.