More and more people are saying #nopaidplasma Safety before profit! @jimmydelaco #cdnpoli @janephilpott #BloodWatch Credit: BloodWatch website
On May 6th, OPSEU/SEFPO is inviting Hamilton area residents, health care workers and labour leaders to rally at the Grifols paid plasma centre, 2255 Barton St. E., to protest paid plasma collection by the Spanish pharmaceutical giant that contravenes the Ontario Voluntary Blood Donation Act.
Paying for plasma sets a dangerous precident for privatizing the entire blood collection system. It is also happening despite Hamilton city council unanimously voting to declare the city a paid-plasma-free zone in June 2024.
Council had well founded concerns that vulnerable communities would be targeted to sell their plasma in what some misguidedly consider a viable poverty reduction strategy. So, let me be clear, selling parts of one’s body to cover rent or food or any expenses should never be considered acceptable nor a replacement for a Universal Standard of Living, aka Universal Basic Income.
The centre will allow individuals to sell their plasma up to twice a week with payments ranging between $30 and $100 based on frequency, volume of plasma sold and whether specific bonus programs are met. It’s important to establish the fact that selling your plasma is not the same as donating it, so these are paid-plasma collection centres, not donation centres.
Plasma sales have been incentivized with sellers receiving a $100 bonus for every 20 donations made within 12 weeks and another $100 bonus for folks who sell their plasma more than 100 times in a calendar year.
There are also bonuses for friend referrals. Folks already selling their plasma simply direct message a friend encouraging them to sell theirs. Bonuses are only paid after the referred friend completes their first two paid plasma collections and range from $25 to $45 per referred donor based the number of referrals made by one individual in a given month.
Paying for plasma is banned in Ontario under the Voluntary Blood Donations Act. Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath played a role, as then leader of the Ontario NDP, in getting the provincial law passed in 2014 that stopped Canadian Plasma Resources from opening a pay-for-plasma centre at 370 Main St. E., Hamilton and two Toronto locations.
However, Canadian Blood Services (CBS), the charity that runs the national blood system, has declared itself exempt from Ontario’s law. CBS entered into a contractual agreement with Grifols and claims that the private company, acting as its agent, is also exempt.
CBS has a controversial plan to bring the reliance on global markets down to 50 per cent by opening 11 of its own voluntary donation centres while also partnering with Grifols to operate 17 pay-for-plasma centres across the country, including Ontario locations in Hamilton, Cambridge, Etobicoke, North York and Whitby.
The CBS plan breaks a key recommendation from the Krever Report (1997) that strongly advised against paying for blood and plasma. The Krever Commission and resulting report was in response to the 1980s tainted blood scandal that left over 30,000 Canadians infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood transfusions and plasma products. The goal was to establish a safer, more reliable supply system based on unpaid volutary donations.
Here’s what OPSEU/SEFPO knows is at stake:
- For-Profit plasma collection creates a blood-for-money system.
- For-Profit plasma collection exploits vulnerable populations.
- For-Profit plasma collection does not guarantee self sufficiency of Canada’s blood plasma supply.
- For-Profit plasma collection favours profits over ethics.
- For-Profit plasma collection negatively impacts voluntary donor populations.
Here’s what OPSEU/SEFPO wants to CBS to do:
Respect the Ontario Voluntary Blood Donations Act which bans payment (and receiving payment) for blood in Ontario. The exemption allowing Canadian Blood Services to pay donors was meant for emergency circumstances; not as a legal loophole to sell off Canada’s plasma donors to private companies!
This seems like the perfect time to hear from Kat Lanteigne, co-founder and executive director of BloodWatch.org in this encore podcast that aired on May 30, 2024. I’ve updated the article to reflect changes that have taken place since then, but you can find the original here.
Kat discusses the essential question, why is CBS privatizing plasma and blood collection when the World Health Organization (WHO) believes every country should be self-sufficient?
In the 1980s, hemophiliacs received Factor VIII treatment that was contaminated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C.
The tainted blood scandal forced the industry to re-examine mitigating risk to patients. That included reconsidering the practice of pooling large volumes of blood and plasma from different sources.
An investigation into the tainted blood and plasma supply culminated in the Krever Report (1997) with over 50 recommendations including invoking the Precautionary Principle. That report and its recommendations are still considered the gold standard around the world.
CBS became Canada’s blood authority in 1998. In 2022, CBS held backroom meetings with Grifols, a Spanish multinational pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer and the largest worldwide producer of plasma products.
These discussions would eventually manifest into a public-private partnership (P3) intended to privatize the Canadian plasma supply system. The deal would make CBS a major stakeholder financially profiting from the harvesting and selling of Canadian plasma.
During a 2022 interview I had with Kat she stated, “fundamentally, the question is and has always been, should we privatize blood collection in Canada? And, should we be making a profit off of Canadian plasma?”
Kat went on to say, “It’s an unconscionable act because [CBS] are a charity. And, that’s getting missed in this discussion.”
Over 40 per cent of the intravenous immune globulin (IV Ig) that is used worldwide is not based on clinical evidence. Even the auditor general of Ontario has determined that plasma products are being over used. Profitability and overuse has led to the aggressive, for-profit plasma collection industry.
In 2014, NDP leader and MPP Andrea Horwath – now mayor of Hamilton, Ontario – championed the Voluntary Blood Protection Act prohibiting for-profit plasma centres.
This act passed unanimously.
That same year, the Wynne Liberals prevented three paid plasma-collection sites from opening — one in Hamilton and two in Toronto.
Kat and I discuss the dissonance between Ontario having an established law prohibiting paid-plasma centres and CBS enabling Grifols to open paid-plasma sites across the province. We also discuss the fact that neither Health Minister Sylvia Jones nor Premier Doug Ford have stepped up to shut down these illegal sites.
BloodWatch.org has confirmation in writing from Health Canada that should this illegal contract be carried out, the plasma collected at these sites could be sold on the international market by CBS or Grifols without violating either federal or provincial law. That would undermine the plasma supply chain in Ontario and potentially across Canada.
Europe limits plasma donations to once every two weeks. CBS recommends donating no more than once every seven days. Grifols is allowing twice weekly plasma collection from folks selling their plasma. In the U.S. where folks can sell their plasma twice-a-week, over 80 per cent of the plasma is collected from vulnerable, poor and abject poor populations including inmates.
Frequent plasma sellers experience higher rates of lower blood protein levels, increased risk of infection, and liver and kidney problems.
The for-profit plasma industry targets racialized and disadvantaged neighbourhoods drawing from those living with chronic poverty, the unhoused, university students and middle-class families suffering economic hardship.
Selling plasma often becomes an important source of income to make ends meet. However, selling a part of one’s body should never be a offered up as a viable solution to poverty nor play a part in the Ford government’s poverty reduction strategy.
The WHO had a goal to make worldwide blood and plasma donations 100 per cent voluntary by 2020. WHO also believes every country should be working towards self-sufficiency.
Paid plasma collection opened the door to privatizing Canada’s blood supply putting profits before patient needs in the market-driven global environment. That turns blood and plasma into commodities to be bought by the highest international bidder.
This push for privatization is happening after CBS received $20 million to open 11 plasma donation centers during COVID. Plasma donation rates were so overwhelming that CBS planned an additional 11 donation centers.
"There's a big differentiator between Canadian Blood Services and an enterprise that is for profit, that is paying donors and that is not assuring Canadians that the product is going to stay in Canada to serve the needs of Canadians." Dr Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services, June 2016 Credit: BloodWatch website
BloodWatch.org has organized a letter writing campaign and is encouraging Ontarians to contact Health Minister Sylvia Jones, their MPP and MP requesting the Ontario VBPA be upheld.
Hear from survivors who know exactly why Canada needs a moratorium placed on paying for plasma. And, hear Sher state unequivocally that paid collections sites should never open here. Which begs the question, what made Sher change his mind and change course for CBS?
Hamilton anti-paid plasma rally: Tuesday, May 6 from 1 to 3 pm outside Grifols paid plasma centre at 2255 Barton St. E, Hamilton.
Additional resources:
US blood plasma industry targets poor and working class
Paying for plasma a slippery slope
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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