The Council of Canadians is calling on the federal government to deny the licence granted to Canadian Plasma Resources in Saskatchewan, and ban paid blood donations across the country.
“Paying for blood compromises the whole system, preys upon the vulnerable, and raises major safety and ethical issues,” says Michael Butler, health care campaigner with the Council of Canadians. “It also violates the five principles of Justice Krever's commission into Canada’s tainted blood scandal, which infected 30,000 people with HIV and hepatitis C.”
The Council of Canadians supports tainted blood survivors and safe blood advocates who are on Parliament Hill today to protest Health Canada’s approval of private blood donor clinics.
“Plasma must be treated as a public resource, not an opportunity for pharmaceutical industry profits,” adds Butler. “There is no reason jeopardize the safety and integrity of our voluntary blood system.”
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Michael Butler, Health Care Campaigner, The Council of Canadians
mbutler@canadians.org
C: 416-414-1684
