New Blog 1: Donate Blood For Money

Donate Blood For Money

A few years ago I read an article about donating plasma and thought “Humm, that’s a nice thing for people to do”. I started doing some research about it and decided that I wanted to do my part to help those who needed plasma. What I wasn’t prepared for was the harsh reality of what donating plasma is all about - money. Most places that take “donations” of plasma are owned by pharmaceutical companies that then turn around and use your “donation” to make huge, almost obscene, amounts of money off of. Now, before we get any farther into this topic let me just say this - you do get paid for donating plasma however the terms that are used are very creative. Instead of saying “We will pay you for your donation” they word it cleverly. “Where you donation really pays” is the one that’s used by Plasmacare, one of the biggest places on the east coast. I’ve been rounding up information about plasma donations for a little over two years now and if you ever thought about donating plasma, this is something that you will want to read. Some of the other plasma giants are Aventis Bio-Services, Biolife, PlasmaTech and PharmaPlas. You can also check sites like Bloodbanker.com/plasma to see which facilities are in your area. The trade is arguably a dark and subversive one, as centres are often located in poorer communities. Though this has moved on significantly over the past two decades, it is still common place for lower income individuals to provide plasma to pharmaceutical manufacturers to earn some extra cash. Questions have been raised in the past as to how ethical this practice is: it is the redistribution of health? Is it commercialising what should be a charitable cause? In the case of the USA, amongst others, it may well be. Plasma is often supplied indirectly by the sometimes homeless, often unemployed, and usually poor, to the rich – or rather, whoever can afford insurance – and this is obviously socially awkward to say the least. What’s more, paid provision – for both plasma and complete blood – around the world is often far riskier as when money is involved as there is a distinct element of unsafe practice.