Submission to the Expert Panel on Immune Globulin Product Supply and Related Impacts in Canada

The payment of donors goes against the advice of major international health care organizations like the World Health Organization, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, the European Blood Alliance and many others. [...] In 2012, CBS closed a plasma collection centre in Thunder Bay citing: due to “new replacement products and the decline in hospital demand…based on current projections CBS must plan for a reduction of approximately 10,000 units to our plasma collection program.” (Canadian Blood Services, Statement, 2012) The unwillingness to scale up the collection of plasma is not the same as the inability to coll. [...] Lastly, once plasma from Canada is sold internationally, trade agreement rules will make it difficult for Canada to stockpile plasma solely for national use and will need to continue selling plasma to the highest bidder. [...] Health Canada has the statutory duty to assess the safety of drugs, including blood, whole plasma and plasma products. [...] Many donors think they are giving to a public plasma collector for use in country, when in fact they are selling their plasma to a company to profit off it on the global market.