UK Supermarket Chain Head Retracts His Claim That Staff Contracted HIV In “Needle Attacks” By Shoplifters

The BBC reports:

The boss of Iceland [supermarket chain] has been forced to apologise and retract a claim that three staff contracted HIV as a result of needle attacks. Richard Walker said he made comments in “error” in a “draft article” about threats of violence against store workers by shoplifters for Mail Online.

Politicians and charities had called for him to withdraw the claims, stating that such comments set back “work to dispel myths around HIV”. Mr Walker said he had “learnt a lot”. Contracting HIV from a needle injury is extremely rare.

Following Mr Walker’s comments on 15 September, the all-party parliamentary group on HIV and Aids, which is chaired by MPs and charities, wrote a letter accusing him of stoking HIV stigma and called for the Iceland boss to apologise.

Read the full article. The supermarket chain has over 1000 locations across the UK and was founded in 1970 by Walker’s father. The chain is often in the news for an ongoing trademark dispute with the country of Iceland.

Iceland boss retracts claim three staff contracted HIV as a result of needle attacks https://t.co/vUE21IyBmU

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 26, 2023