The Senate | 2018

MythBusters On Paid-Plasma:

1. Supporting this ban will mean patients won't get the medications they need from the US.
FALSE. Canadian Blood Services will still be able to purchase plasma derived medications from suppliers while CBS works to become self-sufficient

2. Private paid-plasma brokers would make us self-sufficient.
FALSE. Private paid-plasma brokers are not blood operators. They are private collection sites that pay people to sell their plasma which they then take and sell on the international market for a profit. They do not provide a service and cannot guarantee supply for Canadians.

3. Paid-plasma operations don't harm voluntary donations.
FALSE. Paid-plasma operations have already had a negative impact in Canada with only two clinics operating in Saskatoon and Moncton. Canadian Blood Services has reported that they have a drop in voluntary donors, that their is "brand" confusion and that they have to spend more public funds advertising because they are now competing with another collector.

4. The world is moving towards paid donation because the US does it.
FALSE. The international blood organizations around the world including the WHO, the European Blood Alliance, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, only to name a few, are advocating for 100% voluntary non-remunerated donations for blood and plasma. The situation has become so serious in the EU that the European Blood Alliance submitted to the EU Health Authority in April of 2018 asking for tighter regulations that restrict paid-plasma schemes from proliferating in Europe.

5. Has Health Canada contravened the fundamental recommendations of the Krever Commission by licensing paid-plasma brokers?
YES. Every. Single. One.

Justice Krever's landmark report laid out fundamental recommendations on how Canada's blood system should be managed and operated. Moreover, Justice Krever recommended that one national blood authority, Canadian Blood Services (Quebec it is Hema-Quebec) collect, distribute and manage the blood system on behalf of Canadians free of political interference.

The Krever Inquiry was called on October 4th, 1993 after years of lobbying by those who were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from tainted blood. It was an official royal inquiry funded by the federal government to discover the truth as to how and why the tainted blood crisis occurred. Justice Horace Krever heard testimony from across the country and officials from all levels of government were forced to testify. In 1997 Justice Krever released what was called “a damning report” on the systemic failures of our government and blood system. To this day it is known to be one of the most pinnacle documents on public health. Justice Krever made 50 recommendations from his exhaustive inquiry - below is a summary of the first two.

Recommendation # 1 – No-fault compensation should be administered to all tainted blood recipients past and present.
Recommendation # 2 – The five principles that should govern the Canadian blood system are as follows:

• Blood is a public resource.
• Donors should not be paid.
• Canada should be self-sufficient in blood.
• Access to blood and blood products should be free and universal.
• Safety of the blood supply system is paramount.

6. Why does Health Canada continue to issue licenses to paid-plasma brokers when Canada's national blood authority is warning them to stop?
That question, remains unanswered.