New Globe and Mail op-ed about paying for blood and plasma

Allan Rock argues in a recent opinion piece a the Globe and Mail that paying for blood and plasma donations is not the answer to our shortages. Read the full article on the Globe and Mail website.


Macleans: Inside the murky, high-stakes investigation into New Brunswick’s mystery illness

At least six people are dead. Dozens are sick. Are governments racing fast enough to find the answers needed to save lives? By Christina Frangou October 6, 2021 Read the full article at Macleans >>


Open Letter to the Honourable Commissioner Judge Horace Krever (retired)

Thursday, November 23, 2017   Justice Krever, On behalf of all of our employees at Canadian Blood Services, as well as the many donors, volunteers and countless individuals whose lives have been touched by Canada’s national blood system, it’s my privilege to offer you our collective thanks. Your remarkable contribution to health care in this […]


National Post: Counterpoint: Protect our domestic supply by shutting down the paid-plasma industry

May 11, 2020 10:03 AM EDT It is indefensible to use the tragedy of the pandemic, when thousands of Canadian lives are being lost, to peddle a private plasma collection model in Canada that has already been exposed as a sham. In a recent op-ed, Kate Vander Meer and Peter Jaworski argued that experimental COVID-19 […]


CTV News: PM Trudeau urges Canadians to donate blood during COVID-19 pandemic

Published Thursday, March 19, 2020 1:36PM EDT TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is encouraging Canadians to keep donating blood during the widening COVID-19 pandemic. During an update he provided outside of his home in Ottawa on Thursday, Trudeau said donating blood is one way people can help others in need. “Even if you don’t […]


Policy Options: Food protection agency’s approach to chronic wasting disease is immoral

Paul Sockett, Kat Lanteigne, Neil Cashman October 25, 2019 Agency responsible for protecting Canada’s food supply must stop releasing untested meat for human consumption from CWD-affected facilities. When people are exposed to meat that could be contaminated with chronic wasting disease (CWD), there’s a risk for the development of human cases of CWD. This meat […]


Pro Publica: Pharmaceutical Companies Are Luring Mexicans Across the U.S. Border to Donate Blood Plasma

Companies offer high payments and bring-a-friend bonuses to Mexicans who cross the border on temporary visas to donate blood plasma. The U.S. offers weaker health protections for donors than most countries. by Stefanie Dodt and Jan Lukas Strozyk, ARD German TV, and Dara Lind, ProPublica Oct. 4, 12:01 p.m. Read the full article on the […]


CBC News: Critics warn of ‘totally unacceptable’ risk to humans after meat from 21 tainted elk herds enters food supply

Aug 15, 2019 Doctors are calling for the federal government to implement stricter regulations. Elk meat from 21 herds where chronic wasting disease was found has been released into Canada’s food supply over the last five years, CBC News has learned — a move contrary to World Health Organization recommendations that critics say creates unacceptable […]


CBC News: Canadian Blood Services to open plasma donation sites to secure supply for patients

Posted: Aug 07, 2019 3 new centres will be a 1st in Canada for standalone plasma collection of this size and scale Canadian Blood Services will open plasma donation centres in three provinces to help meet the needs of Canadian patients. Plasma is a clear component of blood processed to manufacture therapies such as immune […]


CBC News: Health Canada approves increased plasma donations at private clinic

Canadian Plasma Resources can pay donors to provide plasma twice per week, Posted: Jul 25, 2019 Health Canada has approved more frequent paid plasma donations. The federal department approved a request by the private company Canadian Plasma Resources to increase the number of times a person can donate from once every six days to twice […]


NDP introduce bill to ban paid blood donations

For immediate release: May 8, 2019 NDP introduce bill to ban paid blood donations Today, NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat introduced Bill No. 617 — The Voluntary Blood Donation Act in an effort to strengthen the province’s volunteer blood donor system and limit safety risks associated with paying for blood donations. “By making it clear […]


IPolitics: For-profit plasma collection won’t ensure national self-sufficiency: CBS

By Marco Vigliotti. Published on Mar 21, 2019 3:46pm Establishing more for-profit plasma collection facilities will not offer long-term assurances that supply will keep pace with the needs of Canadians, or that the plasma collected will stay in the country. That’s the message Canadian Blood Services (CBS) CEO Dr. Graham Sher took to the Senate […]


Leader Post: Paid plasma clinic bleeding Sask. dry, says critic as NDP calls for ban

January 23, 2019 The provincial NDP is calling for a ban on paid plasma collection, amidst warnings that a private clinic is exploiting Saskatchewan people and shipping their blood products out of the country. Opposition Leader Ryan Meili used a press conference Wednesday to blast the Canadian Plasma Resources clinic, which has operated in Saskatoon […]


The Atlantic: How Blood-Plasma Companies Target the Poorest Americans

March 15, 2018 The industry’s business model depends on there being plenty of people who need cash quickly. Medicaid, housing subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—these are some of the things that make up the backbone of the U.S.’s social safety net. And the federal government, guided by President Trump’s proposed budget for 2019, is […]


Work Day Minnesota: Plasma Centers Profit off of the Challenges Facing the Working Poor

June 26, 2018 MAPLE GROVE Claire (whose name has been changed for anonymity) has been donating plasma twice a week for three years.  “My husband and I lost our cleaning-service business three years ago,” the fifty-six-year-old said outside of her local BioLife plasma collection center. “The money doesn’t cover the whole month, but we need […]


The Guardian: My career as an international blood smuggler

For years, Kathleen McLaughlin smuggled American plasma every time she entered China, home to the world’s largest and deadliest blood debacle. She had no other choice. Learn more.