OPSEU/SEFPO is calling for the immediate resignation of the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) CEO and its Board of Directors. This call comes in the wake of news that CBS is allowing Canadian blood plasma to be profited from and sold internationally by Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols.
In a recent news article by the Globe and Mail, CBS CEO, Graham Sher, and Grifols CEO, Nacho Abia, confirmed that Grifols is using blood plasma products from Canadian donors to produce medicines for sale internationally – contrary to Sher’s previous commitment that Canadian plasma product would not be sold outside of Canada.
CBS has been in partnership with Grifols since 2022, when they signed an undisclosed 15-year agreement, violating the Voluntary Blood Donations Act, 2014, and opened the doors to for-profit plasma donation in Ontario; a breach which the Ford government could have intervened in, but chose not to.
“The Canadian Blood Services CEO and Board have abandoned their mandate to protect Canada’s public blood supply. This agreement was an ethical violation of CBS’s duty to safeguard the blood system and voluntary donor base, and it happened in plain sight under the Ford government’s watch,” said JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEPFO President. “We have seen the tragic pitfalls of corporate greed entering our blood system. Our blood, our plasma, our care, and our labour should all serve the public good – not private profits.”
Geoff Cain, the recently retired Chair of OPSEU/SEFPO’s Blood Services and Diagnostics division, noted that details of the deal with Grifols have come to light through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
“Sher misled workers and the public about the deal with Grifols. CBS workers were instructed to share the message with donors and the public – who they have worked hard to build strong, trusting relationships with – that plasma collected would only be for Canadians; for our healthcare system. This is an unacceptable breach of trust,” said Cain.
Canadian Blood Services was founded to uphold the safe handling of Canadian blood and protect donors following the tainted blood scandal of the early 1980s, which resulted in the death of 8,000 Canadians and more than 20,000 donors affected. The Krever inquiry into this tragedy recommended that blood donation should remain voluntary and unpaid, concluding that the for-profit motive was partly to blame.
“CBS workers have been clear about what we need to secure Ontario’s blood supply: the expansion of publicly-operated plasma collection sites and investment that ensures Canada’s blood plasma self-sufficiency,” said Jennifer Pinkos, Chair of OPSEU/SEFPO’s Blood Services and Diagnostics division. “Privatizing the blood system and giving up control of a critical part of our blood security was never the answer.”
OPSEU/SEFPO represents more than 200,000 public service workers, including drivers, plasma associates, donor services representatives, phlebotomists, laboratory assistants, and clerical staff at Canadian Blood Services donation centres across Ontario.