Do we have enough donors
in the current system?
We are actually self sufficient in whole blood and
fresh plasma so our blood system is not dependent
on the US, however, we do import medications that
use plasma as a derivative in them, so we are actually
buying drugs from the US not fresh plasma or blood.
$
$$
$
$
$
Ontario passed the Voluntary Blood Donations Act in a
unanimous vote at Queen’s Park in December, 2014.
This is the piece of legislation New Brunswick and all
of other provinces can pass. It is not a complicated
piece of legislation. It simply protects the point of
collection, ensures that CBS is our sole collector of
blood and plasma and bans the sale of blood and
plasma. There is also a caveat in the bill, which
exempts CBS from the law, and this ensures that
while we work towards self-sufficiency, CBS can still
purchase these much needed plasma-based drugs.
Oh – and it doesn’t cost the provinces any money
because they already fund CBS.
$
What can government do
to stop paid blood/plasma
clinics?
$
$
We don’t want a fractured
system and we don’t want a
private collector that has no
accountability to the public.
$
Canada is not collecting enough volunteer plasma to
make medications we need. CBS has the ability and
the funding to double their plasma collection. The first
step is for CBS to open more plasma clinics in urban
areas and on University campuses. The next step is
for everyone to support CBS.
How to help
Go to BloodWatch.org and click on the Get
Involved! button. Here you will find sample
letters to send to both the New Brunswick
and Canadian Health Ministers as well as
twitter handles and emails for the people
who make decisions on our behalf. Write,
tweet and let them know you don’t want
clinics that pay for blood/plasma donations.
Say NO to
PAID
blood/plasma
www.bloodwatch.org
[email protected]
2140A Queen Street East, PO
Box 51523
Toronto, ON M4E 3V7
Canada
donations
background
The tainted blood scandal of the 1980s
and 1990s is one of the worst public
health crises in Canadian history.
All told, it resulted in:
More than 30,000 Canadians
infected with Hepatitis C and 2,000
people with HIV via tainted blood
in Canada, resulting in the deaths
of thousands of Canadians and
harming countless families;
Canada spent $17 million dollars
on a publicly-funded federal
inquiry which revealed that private
paid-donor systems were a key
factor contributing to Canadians
receiving tainted blood;
Billions of dollars in compensation have been
given to those who received tainted blood and
their families.
The inquiry by Justice Horace Krever - more
commonly referred to as The Krever Report
-recommended that in order to run a safe public blood
system in Canada, it must be governed by these five
basic principles:
1
Blood is a public resource.
2
Donors should not be paid.
3
Sufficient blood should be collected so
that importation from other countries is
unnecessary.
4
Access to blood and blood products
should be free and universal.
5
Safety of the blood supply system is
paramount.
In addition to these principles, Krever stated that the
core functions of the national blood supply system be
performed by a single operator and not be contracted
out to others.
What’s happening in
Moncton?
A company called Canadian Plasma Resources is
attempting to set up a clinic in Moncton that would pay
donors for their blood/plasma donations.
The same company tried to set up in Ontario and was
shut down. Alberta and Nova Scotia have also halted
the company’s plans in their province while Quebec
has a law preventing the act of paid blood/plasma
donations.
The company has no contract with Canadian Blood
Services (CBS) and therefore no buyer for the plasma
it wants to collect in Canada. It has stated that they
will export the plasma they collect to the United States
and then have it shipped to Germany for fractionation.
There is no guarantee that the plasma they collect will
make its way back to Canada.
Blood brokers collect plasma to sell and they export
it on the world market. Having a private blood broker
doesn’t help us become more self-sufficient nor
does it guarantee us access to more plasma-based
medications. The only way to guarantee you are
saving the life of a Canadian is to donate to CBS.
The second reason is that paying people for their body
parts is exploitative. In the US, which is one of only
four countries that allow paid-plasma clinics, the poor
are literally being farmed for their plasma. The profit
motivation at the point of collection can be harmful to
both the donor and the blood system.
The third reason is oversight. In Canada, Canadian
Blood Services is our national operator, and they
protect the donor, they oversee all of the testing and
they know where all of our blood and plasma is going –
this is a crucial part of preventing another tainted blood
tragedy. We don’t want a fractured system and we
don’t want a private collector that has no accountability
to the public.
The only way to guarantee
you are saving the life of a
Canadian is to donate to
CBS.
Why should
we ban
paid blood/
plasma
donations?
There are numerous reasons why
we should ban paid plasma clinics and
the first is that the plasma collected by
blood brokers isn’t for our use – it’s for sale.
The profit
motivation
at the point
of collection can
be harmful to both
the donor and the blood
system.