Prime Minister David Cameron has apologised on behalf of the British government to victims of the contaminated blood scandal.
It came after a Scottish inquiry described the saga as "the stuff of nightmares".
Thousands of people across Britain were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through NHS blood products in the 1970s and 80s.
But the inquiry concluded few matters could have been done differently.
And it made only a single recommendation - that anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1991 should be tested for Hepatitis C.
The contaminated blood has been described as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
Hundreds of those affected were in Scotland, which was the only part of the UK to hold an inquiry.
The probe, which was headed by former High Court judge Lord Penrose, said more should have been done to screen blood and donors for Hepatitis C in the early 1990s, and said the collection of blood from prisoners should have stopped sooner.
Patients were not adequately informed of the risks because of the paternalistic attitude of doctors at the time, it found.
But the inquiry concluded that nothing more could have been done to prevent the transmission of HIV.
And it said that when actions in Scotland were compared to other countries around the world, they held up well.
Lord Penrose is seriously ill and was not present at the event, which had opened with a minute's silence for those who had been affected.
There were shouts of "whitewash" from relatives who had gathered at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to see the findings, which run to several volumes, being outlined.
They were apparently angry that the inquiry made only a single recommendation - that the Scottish government should take all reasonable steps to offer a Hepatitis C test to everyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before September 1991 and who has not yet been tested for the disease.
The inquiry also found that there were "few aspects in which matters could or should have been handled differently".
A statement was read out on his behalf by inquiry secretary Maria McCann, who said patients in late 1980s had been "confronted with the reality that what had been presented as a treatment to extend life and improve its quality carried a risk of serious and potentially fatal disease.
"The resultant distress, anger and distrust were clearly demonstrated to the inquiry."
The statement added: "For people infected by HIV/Aids and/or hepatitis C, the impact on their lives and the lives of their loved ones has often been devastating.
"I would also comment on the often forgotten suffering of clinical staff, who discovered that the treatments they thought were beneficial to patients actually caused them to become infected with life-threatening conditions.
"They too have been affected, especially when accused of knowing or deliberate attempts to harm patients."
The inquiry's remit was to investigate how the NHS collected, treated and supplied blood.
Lord Penrose also scrutinised what patients were told, how they were monitored and why patients became infected.
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