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.
The public system gets to pay for treating these patients seemingly made sick by a for-profit business and the investigation of said business. I’m so glad we let for-profit companies back into blood collection after kicking them out after the tainted blood scandal of the 1980s in which 1000s were exposed to HIV or Hep C /s
Over here in the USA people don’t typically get money for donating blood or plasma (there are plasma donation centers that pay, but they are much harder to find), but the business still sells it to profit, iirc.
I’d rather get money as a donor, though. For now, I’ll take the free cookies instead.