March 13, 2013 - Recently there has been a great deal of discussion about a new collection centre in this country that will pay donors for their plasma. (Blood for sale: A new low for the Canadian blood system, Toronto Star, March 5, 2013) Canadian Blood Services is not affiliated with this clinic, nor is it for us to determine if it should exist. As stewards of the national blood system (outside of Quebec), we wanted to shed some light on the collection and use of plasma in Canada and internationally. Plasma is the liquid portion of blood that can be transfused into patients with a variety of