Success
of Plasma Centers Could Hurt Red Cross,
Study Finds
The
popularity of for-profit blood plasma
collection agencies as a source of extra
income among college students could lead
to shrinking donor rolls for the Red Cross
and other nonprofit collection
agencies.
A
new Ohio University study of 411 college
students age 18 to 22 found that 10
percent have sold their blood plasma at
least once for payments typically ranging
from $9 to $20 per donation. In that
group, three out of five are former Red
Cross donors who stopped donating blood
when they started selling their
plasma.
And
most student donors don't need the money
to get by, but are using the funds to pay
for nonessential goods, says sociologist
and study author Leon Anderson. Anderson,
who published the research in the latest
issue of the journal Sociological
Spectrum, became interested in
characteristics of paid plasma donors
while doing research on the homeless, many
of whom have been frequent paid donors at
for-profit collection agencies in the
United States.
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more information, please read the
full
text of this press
release.
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