B.C. threatens hefty fines as it moves to ban payment for blood, plasma

Payment for blood and plasma would be prohibited in B.C. under legislation introduced Thursday.

There are no clinics in B.C. that pay people for blood or plasma and the legislation is meant to prevent any from opening.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said voluntary donations of blood through Canadian Blood Services help save lives.

Similar laws exist in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, but at least one private organization in Canada pays donors for plasma that is sold on the global market.

People who violate B.C.’s law would be fined up to $10,000 for a first offence, and firms would pay $100,000 for a first offence and $500,000 for each subsequent offence, the ministry said.

Dr. Graham D. Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services, said he’s pleased to see the province support for the national blood-supply system. “Canadian Blood Services welcomes efforts to help further strengthen Canada’s voluntary, non-remunerated, publicly funded and accountable collection model,” Sher said in a statement.

Rick Turner, co-chair of the B.C. Health Coalition, said the new legislation will help protect the health and well-being of residents who rely on a voluntary system to collect blood and plasma, the paleyellow liquid part of blood used for various medical treatments.

“B.C., like all jurisdictions, has a limited pool of potential donors,” he said. “Preventing pay-for-plasma clinics from operating in the province ensures that they will not draw donors away from the voluntary blood system.”

The coalition, along with BloodWatch.org and the B.C. Hemophiliac Society, has advocated for the legislation since 2016, when a private company said it planned to open clinics in the Vancouver area.

Canadian Plasma Resources has clinics in Saskatoon and Moncton, N.B., and had been in talks with the former Liberal government in B.C.

The company’s CEO Barzin Bahardoust said B.C.’s ban on compensating people for plasma will mean it must continue to buy from paid American donors. “We’re relying on paid-plasma donors from the United States for about 85 per cent of the plasma-protein products that we use in this country,” he said, adding the firm has considered expanding to Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

He said plasma donors at its two Canadian clinics are paid up to $50 in the form of a tax receipt or a reloadable credit card in that amount.