Vancouver 24hrs: Cities asked to ban pay-for-plasma

Posted on: August 15th, 2016 by webmaster

Getting paid to donate blood may sound like a great way to give something useful and earn a little cash, but advocates against private clinics are urging B.C. civic leaders to ban the practice.

Kat Lanteigne, who runs the group BloodWatch, spoke to Burnaby council Monday — urging legal reforms.

The origins of many of Lanteigne’s concerns stem from the tainted blood crisis that hit Canada in the 1980s, where improper blood transfusions gave 2,000 Canadians HIV and an estimated 30,000 Hepatitis C.

The crisis led to Justice Horace Krever recommending that all provinces make blood a public resource and not to pay donors. Quebec was the only province to adopt Krever’s recommendations.

Read the full article on the Vancouver 24hrs we site.