An update on the Canadian plasma clinic.
It has already opened and has been buying blood. However, they do not have buyers for that blood yet and the controversy is still ongoing.
This is a recent article that reveals not only the health risks involved, but also the politics that is driving the controversy.
Blood money: Legislated out of Ontario, Canadian Plasma Resources courts controversy with Saskatoon clinic
It is an emotionally charged issue with critics and supporters facing off. The opponents to the paid clinics include the Ontario Hemophilia Society, the World Health Organization and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
What complicates the issue is the ownership of the company Canadian Plasma Resources:
Beyond the debate on compensation for plasma donations, Canadian Plasma Resources has faced challenges over its ties to Iran.
In September, the Federal Court upheld a Canada Border Services Agency decision to deny a work permit for Ramin Fallah, a shareholder in Canadian Plasma Resources’ parent company, Exa Pharma Inc., who had been hired as an executive.
The CBSA claimed his former employer, Fanavari Azmayeshgahi, “has been identified in open sources and by allied governments as being an entity of (weapons of mass destruction) concern.”
The court found that Fallah did not raise any evidence to counter that allegation.
Another alleged link to Iran’s nuclear program is through Canadian Plasma’s business partnership with the German pharmaceutical company, Biotest AG, which has processing plants in the U.S. and Germany.
Biotest has a joint venture called Bio Daru with pharmaceutical company Darou Pakhsh, which is on a list of Iranian companies Britain considers at risk of using exports for weapons of mass destruction proliferation. Nasser Riahi, founder of Exa Pharma and father of its president, Yalda Riahi, is also a founder of Bio Daru.
Bahardoust said Nasser “severed his ties with Exa Pharma years ago,” and Yalda is now the only member of the Riahi family with an interest in Canadian Plasma Resources.
