Federal

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

College students frequently struggle to make ends meet and often live paycheck to paycheck. Some use creative ways to make extra money. Plasma donation centers are well aware of this and prey on students and other impoverished individuals to make a profit. Plasma is the clear liquid portion of blood that remains once red cells, […]

December 14, 2017 Donors hope to get $30 a pop for their plasma, but sometimes they aren’t even paid what they’re promised Here’s another example of wealthy corporations sucking poor people dry—literally. While many good samaritans donate blood or bone marrow out of good will, others sell their bodily fluids on a biweekly basis just […]

November 22, 2017 Internal documents show Health Canada working hand-in-glove with a private company to push a donation model the Krever inquiry warned against. Has it failed in its role as regulator? In February 2016, Canadian Plasma Resources (CPR) opened its first paid plasma collection centre in Saskatoon with a splashy media event attended by […]

December 21, 2016 The head of Canadian Blood Services (CBS) says the agency plans to open dozens more collection facilities in the coming years amid signs it is losing volunteer donors to a for-profit clinic that pays people to give plasma. Canadian Plasma Resources, a private operator that gives gift cards to plasma donors, opened […]

April 25, 2018 VANCOUVER — Payment for blood and plasma would be prohibited in British Columbia under legislation introduced Thursday. There are no clinics in B.C. that pay people for blood or plasma and the legislation is meant to prevent any from opening. Health Minister Adrian Dix said voluntary donations of blood through Canadian Blood […]