Blood in the Water
In an earlier Facebook post we discussed the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have filed a suit against the Red Cross for failure to correct previously cited donated blood-safety regulations. Since 2003 the organization has been cited 14 times and fined roughly $45 million for related offenses. The FDA imposed the charges after a Washington-based group Public Citizens pointed out the organizations issues, such as not ensuring that all the staff had sufficient training as well as neglecting to create a complete list of prospective donors who are disqualified form donating blood. The Red Cross issued a statement saying that they are fully committed to meeting all FDA standards and are making progress in working with the FDA to comply with their regulations.
In a telephone interview, the head of compliance at the FDA`s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research stated, ``The safety of the nation`s blood supply is one of our top priorities and we have no reason to believe that it has been compromised. It`s very important to note that people who need transfusions should continue to take their doctor`s advice, and we encourage people to donate blood.`` The last incident of this kind occurred in 2010 and the FDA fined the Red Cross $16 million for mismanagement of blood products and manufacturing violations. Luckily, those lapses didn`t endanger any patients at the time either, but there really shouldn`t have been a next time after that.