The US has become the great “donor”

In recent months we have proven to what extent the commercial policy of the United States affects the rest of the world (and vice versa). The threat of a commercial war between Europe and the North American country has been markedly diluted but has made us reconsider the role that international trade plays in our daily actions. Because this affects details that sometimes we would not suspect.

The United States is the main exporter of medical products in the world, something that may not be so surprising. This is true if we talk about medical equipment, but It is also If we talk about something as particular as Blood plasma. Because yes, this key component of our blood also thickens international accounting data in some countries.

First of all, perhaps it is convenient to clarify what is exactly plasma. Blood plasma is essentially the liquid part of the blood. In this liquid where red blood cells, leukocytes or white blood cells, and platelets are suspended. The plasma It is mainly composed of water, proteins such as immunoglobulins, coagulation and albumin factors, in addition to salts that exert electrolytes.

We can obtain blood plasma through donations in two ways. One, through plasma donations (plasmapheresis). In this process, blood is extracted to the patient, blood from which the plasma is separated and removed at the same time that the rest of the liquid components are returned to the donor. Plasma can also be obtained from conventional blood donations.

According to Explain the Transfusion Center of the Community of Madridthe plasma obtained from conventional blood donations is enough to meet all transfusion needs of patients. However, at least in Spain, the plasma extracted by this route is not enough to produce hemoderivates from the proteins present in the plasma or PDMP (PLASMA-DERIVED Medicinal Products), important in treatments not related to blood or plasma transfusions.

Where there is lack, there is business. And this is example the United States. During the last yearsblood plasma has represented around 2.5% of exports in this country. Although the pandemic significantly limited the availability of this vital fluid in the North American country, in 2022 plasma exports They were 2.69%.

And this is due to a huge rhythm of collection. According to A study Posted in 2023 in the magazine Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy, about 67% of plasma volume collected in the world was obtained in the US. In contrast, Europe contributes about 14%. Interestingly, Europe is the largest plasma supplier recovered (extracted from complete blood donations).

Money issue?

The disparate situation on each sides of the “puddle” has led some to consider the compensation model prevailing in Europe. The reason is that, In the USpaying for blood plasma is perfectly legal, while in the countries of our environment, this possibility is more limited.

In Europe the idea of ​​non -enrichment from the human body and its parts prevails, a position also defended by the World Health Organization. This does not exclude payments in some contexts or Nor does it guarantee Transparency in the legislation of all European surroundings countries. The debate on whether this is the best model has been open for some years.

“The EU legal framework for blood and blood components was not developed with the need for an increase in collection of plasma in mind ”, defended a couple of years ago Maarten van Baelen, executive director of Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA) Europe, in Declarations collected by Politic. “A growing need for plasma medicines and a growing dependence on the US plasma requires a change in policy to face how we collect and increase plasma collection in Europe.”

For others, the payment for donations has a difficult ethical lace: it is common that the idea of ​​paying for an organ as a liver or an eye is uncomfortable, but is.how or where to draw the limit? It is a question that, as long as we are not able to answer in a consensual way, can limit our

If someone might seem predisposed to defend the existence of this type of market would be economists. Because also for these there is some debate. On the blog and homonymous book FreakonomiksStephen Dubner and Steven Levitt considered this issue. They did it by mentioning two studies with diverse resigades but not necessarily opposite.

One of them, published in 1970 by Richard Titmuss, in which a counterintuitive effect was observed, that payments not only did not contribute to improve donations, but rather on the contrary. He Second studymore recent, published in 2013 in Sciencenoted that the rewards did work, although these rewards They did not have to be monetary: The study also contemplated forms of compensation such as free days or gift checks.

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Image | Lucas Oliveira