CBC News has learned two people — including a 22-year-old international student — died after giving plasma at Winnipeg collection centres that pay people for their donations.
The deaths are under review by Health Canada, which confirmed it received two reports of fatal adverse reactions in plasma donors — one in October of last year and another on Jan. 30, 2026.
The federal regulator says it is still assessing these reports and has not made a link between the plasma collection and deaths.
Rodiyat Alabede died on Oct. 25 after friends say the 22-year-old went to an appointment at the Grifols Plasma Donation Centre on Taylor Avenue to give plasma.
On the blood products recipient end, we want to ensure safety and ethics in the products people need to live.
Unfortunately, donations are not adequate such that Canadian Blood Services buys blood products to make up the difference.
A significant portion of the product purchased and imported into Canada from the United States comes from incarcerated populations.
Paying Canadians for plasma donations is an arguably lesser harm than importing plasma and fractionated blood products from incarcerated persons in the United States.
A healthy adult should be able to make plasma donations very frequently. This raises questions about what was happening in that donation centre’s screening and drawing procedures.
In fact, there is a long history, when the blood supply was less reliable, where parents of children with bleeding disorders often donated plasma biweekly in order to make sure their children had a safe and timely supply of essential coagulation factors.
Ensuring that the donations are safe both for the person donating and the recipients is nonnegotiable. It’s also however essential that we have the blood products available for those who need them and not condemn those with inherited bleeding disorders to disability due to insufficient availability of fractionated products.