Premier Christy Clark’s government is playing with fire by thinking about allowing a private for-profit blood plasma-collection company to operate in B.C.
As a hepatitis-C and HIV-infected hemophiliac survivor of the deadliest tainted-blood crisis this country has ever endured, I am vehemently opposed to allowing a private, for-profit, foreign-owned company to come into our country and compromise the safety and security of our blood system.
So just what are the problems with having a for-profit company setting up shop in B.C.?
First, it is a commercial venture. The private blood broker Canadian Plasma Resources is offering to pay its customers to sell their plasma, rather than donate it to our public blood operator — Canadian Blood Services.
The blood broker in question has a history of setting up shop in neighbourhoods where people have the deepest economic challenges.
In Toronto, where it tried to open clinics in 2014 before legislation was passed outlawing the practice, it had leased store-fronts across the street from a methadone clinic and beside a homeless shelter. In Saskatoon, where it is in operation, it is in an economically depressed area characterized by payday loan centres and pawnshops.
Canadian Blood Services, the government-sponsored agency set up nearly 20 years ago in the wake of our last tainted-blood crisis to have exclusive responsibility for the collection, processing and distribution of blood and blood products, has already reported a precipitous reduction in the number of volunteer donors it is seeing in Saskatoon since the plasma-for-pay company set up shop. This is most unsettling, as none of the plasma bought by this company can ever be used to help British Columbians or any other Canadians.
CBS has stated that it will not and cannot purchase or distribute product collected by this private enterprise. So any plasma that the company collects will have to be sold on the world market, at astronomical markups to the price it is paying Canadians to pull it out of their arms.
So why is Clark even considering this? It appears that she is seduced by the handful of jobs the company would provide. But those jobs will be as few as possible and as low-paying as possible, again, simply because this is a for-profit commercial venture first and foremost.
On the other hand, CBS has committed to increasing its commitment to plasma collection across the country to secure supply for Canadians. Dr. Graham Sher, the CEO of the agency, has appealed to all provincial governments to stop licensing this or any private paid-plasma company. He has sounded the alarm about the damage this company has already done to our volunteer donor culture in Canada.
As CBS rolls out its new plasma strategy, the jobs created will be more plentiful, provide oversight of the safety of the donor base and secure our plasma supply for Canadian patients. Clark’s decision to ignore the call from our public blood operator to protect the blood system in B.C. is a dereliction of her duty as a legislator.
The only way to keep the blood brokers out is to pass a law similar to those in Ontario and Quebec that ban the private sale of blood and plasma. I implore you as a patient, an advocate and a fellow Canadian to speak up and demand that Clark take quick and decisive action.
Her office and her team are well-schooled on this issue — so far, she simply shrugs. After our blood tragedy, that is just unacceptable.
Andrew Cumming is cofounder of BloodWatch.org.
