Newfoundland and Labrador

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

The Globe recently came out against paid plasma in this editorial from April 27th. “Earlier this week, the CEO of Canadian Blood Services, an organization born in the aftermath of the tainted blood scandal that claimed thousands of lives and cost billions in financial settlements, mused about increasing the country’s plasma supply by, just maybe, […]

We’re happy to announce that SumOfUs.org, the amazing online campaign platform, is profiling BloodWatch on their site. Check it out and SIGN THE PETITION: Ban for-profit donor-paid plasma collection in Canada. SumOfUs.org is a new world-wide movement for a better global economy. Here’s what they stand for: Governments that answer to citizens – not corporations Fair […]

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 […]

The question of blood-system safety remains a flashpoint in Canada, two decades after the “tainted blood” scandal of the late ’80s and early ’90s. More than 20,000 Canadians became infected with HIV and hepatitis C due to improperly screened blood and plasma from paid donors in Haiti and American skid rows. The tragedy led to […]

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 […]

In the early 1980s, more than 2,000 Canadians who received blood transfusions were infected with HIV and as many as 30,000 contracted Hepatitis C. This tragic scandal, and the Krever Inquiry that followed, resulted in the overhaul of our blood donation system to ensure the safety of any blood products. This made Canada one of […]

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 […]

Impact on Canada’s voluntary blood system unclear. Health Canada should hold off on approving blood clinics that pay people for their plasma, Ontario’s health minister says. (…) Blood experts raised concerns about the “slippery slope” that could divert volunteer blood donors to the paid system. You can read the full article on the CBC News […]

“The tainted blood tragedy was a massive and deadly institutional failure but there were also some small acts of heroism that didn’t get recognized,” Globe and Mail public health reporter André Picard wrote in an e-mail. Mr. Picard is also author of The Gift of Death, a book about the tainted-blood scandal. “On a number […]

Canadian Plasma Resources, having failed miserably with its plan to pay plasma donors in Toronto, has now set up shop in Saskatoon. Why Saskatchewan – or any other province, for that matter – would align itself with a company that has a controversial history and business plan is odd, especially given Canada’s painful history with […]