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Blood money: Europe wrestles with moral dilemma over paying donors for plasma
Advocates on both sides of the debate are itching to see how the first blood legislation review in 20 years will address the EU’s dependency on plasma imports from the US
European policymakers are about to confront a long-standing taboo over giving plasma, the liquid part of blood, for money.
- Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif
- Politico
It’s a pressing question:
The European Union is short of the plasma needed to make life-saving medicines.
It depends on imports — mostly from paid donors in the U.S. — to meet the needs of around 300,000 people who require plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMPs).
Advocates on both sides of the…