Current Status, British Columbia
BREAKING NEWS: BC GOVERNMENT TABLES LEGISLATION TO BAN PAID PLASMA
April 26, 2018
Legislation will prohibit payment for blood and plasma collection
VICTORIA – Health Minister Adrian Dix today introduced the Voluntary Blood Donations Act, which will help preserve the integrity of Canada’s public blood and plasma collection system by preventing payment for blood and plasma collection in British Columbia.
“Our voluntary blood donation system is an integral resource that helps saves lives thanks to people who graciously donate,” said Dix. “We are taking action to prevent payment for blood and plasma collection, and to make sure that the donations people give benefit people in our province and Canada.”
Read the entire press release here.
Update, October 2017
Minister Dix has suggested he will not allow private paid-plasma clinics to open. The NDP government has not taken any steps to implement a legislative ban. Canadian Plasma Resources has said they expect to open a private clinic in BC in 2017. Please see CPR’s business plan here.
Update:
BloodWatch is very encouraged to see that steps are being taken in BC to protect the blood system. We have made two trips out to the BC legislature and toured the province last year to raise awareness on this issue. We will make sure Minister Dix holds the promise the BC NDP made and follows through with banning paid-plasma. Come on BC! We believe in you.
Read more about the BC Ministry of Health.
BREAKING:
January 16, 2017
Maclean’s publishes an expose on “Policy laundering” behind blood brokers In Canada. Read the Maclean’s article.
Update December 21, 2016 – BREAKING –
Canadian Blood Services Says Paid Plasma Clinics Are Harming Voluntary Donations
CEO of CBS speaks out against private-paid plasma clinics. Confirms that they harm the voluntary donor base in Saskatchewan where the private clinic set-up.
PLEASE READ CBC’s national news story here.
December 2016
BC Health Minister Terry Lake is allowing private paid-plasma clinics into his province. Private Blood Broker announced in the Telegraph Journal that a clinic will be open in BC in 2017. This despite Canadian Blood Services asking the Health Ministers to put a “pause” on the clinics as they are introducing their new plasma strategy January 20th of 2017 and moving ahead to build a stand alone plasma collection site and open beds to collect plasma in existing clinics.
July 2016
Canadian Blood Services has confirmed that they will not purchase plasma product from Canadian Plasma Resources or their affiliates.
Minister Terry Lake met with lobbyists for the private blood broker on October 21st, 2014. Ms. Michele Caderio, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Premier’s office, met with lobbyists for CPR on October 31, 2014. – Source BC Lobby Registry.
Minister Lake supports private paid plasma clinics coming to British Columbia. Patient groups in BC, such as the British Columbia Hemophilia Society, have said no to paid-plasma as well as public health advocacy groups and residents throughout the province.
Minister Lake has received thousands of letters from residents who are saying no to paid plasma. The BC Health Coalition has an active campaign urging the BC Government to join Ontario & Quebec in banning private for-profit blood clinics.
NDP Health critic Judy Darcy introduced a version of the Voluntary Blood Donations Act in the BC legislature but it has not yet moved to a second reading.
Minister Lake kindly welcomed BloodWatch.org for a meeting in May. We are hopeful Minister Lake will reconsider his position.
News and Media, British Columbia
Open Letter to the Honourable Commissioner Judge Horace Krever (retired)
March 5th, 2021 | 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 21st, 2020 | 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
March 21st, 2020 | 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
February 5th, 2020 | 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 […]
CBC News: Canadian Blood Services to open plasma donation sites to secure supply for patients
August 8th, 2019 | 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
July 26th, 2019 | 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
May 9th, 2019 | 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
March 25th, 2019 | 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 23rd, 2019 | 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
January 18th, 2019 | 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
January 18th, 2019 | 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
January 18th, 2019 | 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.
The University Star: Plasma donation centers exploit college students and the poor
January 18th, 2019 | 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, […]
Salon: Medical companies are profiting from harvesting poor peoples’ blood
January 18th, 2019 | 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 […]
Maclean’s: A bloody mess: The story behind paid plasma in Canada
September 25th, 2018 | 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 […]
CBC News: Canadian Blood Services says paid plasma clinics are harming voluntary donations
September 25th, 2018 | 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 […]