Federal

Stop the export of Canadian blood for profit. Every policy has a story. This is our Canadian story. Watch our video. 

March 7, 2016 – Federal Health Minister Admits She has No Idea Where Plasma Will Go. In response to growing opposition, Minister Philpott maintains support for private plasma collection despite not knowing “what the company’s plans are.” Listen to the Evan Solomon Radio Interview.

Citing the horrors of the tainted-blood scandal of the 1980s, a group of activists and NDP MPs made a public plea on Monday to Health Minister Jane Philpott, asking for an immediate moratorium on paid blood donations in Canada. The group, led by NDP MP Don Davies, said the recent approval of a licence for a private, paid-donation clinic in […]

Andrew Cumming is a hemophiliac who learned about two decades ago that he had been infected with HIV and Hepatitis C through tainted blood. “It was probably the most loathed and stigmatized disease that anyone had contemplated,” he said of life after his diagnosis. He said he was “gobsmacked” when he learned about Canadian Plasma […]

TORONTO — An Iranian who invested more than $1-million in a Toronto-based medical company and was set to become its vice-president has been barred from Canada over his alleged links to Tehran’s nuclear program. The Canada Border Services Agency refused to issue a work permit to Ramin Fallah, 49, labeling him a security threat because […]

Critics, including the federal NDP, say paid blood donations are a step toward privatizing health care and could lead to another tainted blood scandal. In the 1980s, about 2,000 Canadians were infected with HIV and many thousands more were infected with hepatitis C from tainted blood products. The inquiry into the scandal pointed to paid blood donations as […]

Kat Lanteigne’s opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen: The debate over whether to pay people for their plasma is not a scientific one. It is about whether or not the people of B.C. want to allow private blood brokers to take over the role of Canadian Blood Services (CBS). Paid is private, meaning that the […]

While blood looks red, its largest component is a clear, liquid gold known as plasma — what’s left after red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and other components are removed. And it’s worth a lot of money. Here are 10 things to know about the pay-for-plasma landscape in Canada (…) This is a business […]

Health Canada says private clinics may pay donors for plasma, but critics wonder what is behind the push for a major change in policy. (…) Was this the promised public consultation about whether Canadians are okay with the idea that a human blood fluid can be bought and sold? “It wasn’t public, it was a closed […]

Gobsmacked. That’s the only rational response to news that a) a private company plans to set up shop in Toronto to buy blood plasma and; b) it is perfectly legal for them to do so. Have we already forgotten the tainted-blood tragedy – a debacle that left more than 20,000 Canadians infected with HIV and […]

Blood is a sensitive topic in Canada, and rightly so. About 30,000 Canadians were unknowingly infected with HIV and hepatitis C during the 1980s from tainted blood and plasma they had been assured was safe. Thousands of lives were cut short. Infected blood, purchased from disreputable sources, including derelicts on U.S. skid rows, was at […]

Ontario is moving to slam the door shut on pay-for-blood clinics before they even open up for business. Health Minister Deb Matthews said Friday that proposed legislation will be introduced in early spring that will stop Canadian Plasma Resources from opening up shop in Toronto and Hamilton. “They haven’t started up business yet so that […]

If Ontario does allow the for-profit model, McCarthy worries it will open the floodgates for similar clinics in other provinces. “There’s almost a point of no return if we introduce this type of model into Ontario,” says McCarthy. “It will create huge pressures for other provinces to feel compelled to have to join in because […]

Following the tainted blood scandal of the 1980s and the Krever Commission, Canada’s national blood system was established on the principle of voluntary donation through an agreement by the federal, provincial and territorial governments. That’s why I’m writing today to outline the steps our government is taking to prohibit the operation of private paid plasma […]

Ontario’s health minister is vowing to stamp out business that pays donors for blood and plasma, making an enemy of blood money. Deb Matthews says she’ll crack down on any payments she says threaten the supply’s integrity by siphoning donors to private clinics. “We don’t allow the sale of eggs, sperm, body parts and we […]

If Ontario’s health minister pushes through a ban on private clinics that collect blood and plasma, a GTA company says it will sue to recover nearly $7.5 million it’s already invested. The head of Canadian Plasma Resources, Barzin Bahardoust, had hoped to avoid a legal fight, but if Deb Matthews gets her way, he said […]