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You read an article about the dystopian situation with blood donations in the US and your immediate thought is "why don't we do that"? Canada collects more tha

You read an article about the dystopian situation with blood donations in the US and your immediate thought is "why don't we do that"? Canada collects more than enough transfusion blood through volunteers -- there isn't some underclass that is bled as if that's their value. This accounts for the bulk of normal blood products. Canada imports plasma products because a) the US generates lots of it, b) it's a specialty product. "Somehow domestic dairy production is a national asset that must be protected, but it’s totally okay to depend on foreign nations for blood products" Dairy is protected because if you let a foreign power destroy your source through uneven capitalism (e.g. the US dumping their excess, subsidized production) the number of farms/cows/chickens would collapse, so when they suddenly decide they don't like you or want to keep it all for themselves, there would be a period of starvation while the industry tried to recover. Hence, it's strategically important to keep the industry healthy as a matter of sovereign principal. Blood products don't work that way. We don't have children, or cull the herd, based upon the needs of blood products. Heck, contrary to that the supply and demand is automatically balanced. Ergo, if someone cut us off we have 37 million possible donors and could ramp up every bit of need overnight. It's a pretty specious comparison to try to contrast those.

Scoundreller 7y ago
> Canada collects more than enough transfusion blood through volunteers -- there isn't some underclass that is bled as if that's their value. This accounts for the bulk of normal blood products. Canada imports plasma products because a) the US generates lots of it, b) it's a specialty product. That’s why you don’t get enough plasma without paying for it: it’s a longer and more invasive process. Volunteer systems are great, when they work. I’d argue that if the entire donation program was volunteer-driven, we wouldn’t have had quite the tainted blood coverups that we did. CEOs would be less afraid of losing their job and saying « we have a problem » if it didn’t pay anything. The problem is that you can’t scale every organization into a « just get altruistic people to do everything you need for free » model. I recognize the issues with hiring/paying people that want to be paid. You can try to move toward a fully volunteer model, but they’ve paid a lot of people to try to build that and still fail.
jeffdavis 7y ago
Sincere question: what is dystopian about people making a few bucks from donating their blood? Is there suffering involved? Are there long-term health impacts? Are there major risks?
- jouss 7y ago
  Yes, there are, you should read the article before shout your ancap propaganda.
Scoundreller 7y ago
> Dairy is protected because if you let a foreign power destroy your source through uneven capitalism (e.g. the US dumping their excess, subsidized production) the number of farms/cows/chickens would collapse Sooner or later, it’s going to happen. May as well ease them into it starting now. We’re already moving toward artificial meat. Once it’s cheaper than the « real thing », those farms are toast.

Scoundreller 7y ago

> Canada collects more than enough transfusion blood through volunteers -- there isn't some underclass that is bled as if that's their value. This accounts for the bulk of normal blood products. Canada imports plasma products because a) the US generates lots of it, b) it's a specialty product. That’s why you don’t get enough plasma without paying for it: it’s a longer and more invasive process. Volunteer systems are great, when they work. I’d argue that if the entire donation program was volunteer-driven, we wouldn’t have had quite the tainted blood coverups that we did. CEOs would be less afraid of losing their job and saying « we have a problem » if it didn’t pay anything. The problem is that you can’t scale every organization into a « just get altruistic people to do everything you need for free » model. I recognize the issues with hiring/paying people that want to be paid. You can try to move toward a fully volunteer model, but they’ve paid a lot of people to try to build that and still fail.

jeffdavis 7y ago

Sincere question: what is dystopian about people making a few bucks from donating their blood? Is there suffering involved? Are there long-term health impacts? Are there major risks?

jouss 7y ago
Yes, there are, you should read the article before shout your ancap propaganda.

Scoundreller 7y ago

> Dairy is protected because if you let a foreign power destroy your source through uneven capitalism (e.g. the US dumping their excess, subsidized production) the number of farms/cows/chickens would collapse Sooner or later, it’s going to happen. May as well ease them into it starting now. We’re already moving toward artificial meat. Once it’s cheaper than the « real thing », those farms are toast.