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🌊 Inside America’s Booming Blood Business
We visited a plasma center and learned how blood became America’s third-biggest export
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By Max Towey
If you’re ever in Georgia and need a story to investigate, go to the nearest Waffle House. That’s what we did recently – and learned of one of the most interesting stories we’ve come across yet.
We were in Clayton County, a notoriously rough area just south of Atlanta. Our server, a charismatic young woman named Naya, told us it’s the kind of place where not even the Waffle House can stay open 24/7 because of late-night brawls. As we kept talking to her, she suggested a story: "Find out why everybody donating plasma.”
“Everybody donating plasma," she reiterated and told us where the plasma center was. “Go there.”
At first we laughed. We didn’t realize that Naya had just given us a fantastic tip.
Reporting across American inner cities, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing plasma donation centers. We never thought twice about it. Now, though, we took Naya’s advice and set off to the most popular plasma center in “Clayco,” as the county is known.
Plasma makes up about 55% of your blood. You would not be alive without it. It's a protein-rich yellowish liquid that helps maintain blood pressure and immune function.
Plasma is used in life-saving treatments, which makes it valuable. Each year, plasma treatments help sustain an estimated 50,000 US patients who have bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies, trauma injuries, rare diseases, and more.
And to get the plasma, companies buy it from people like the residents of Clayton County, who get paid up to $100 per plasma donation.
These people are not thriving: “I'm just doing it till I get my paychecks,” one man told us outside CSL Plasma in Clayton County.
“I don't know if you know the inside scope on this but it's like people are in between jobs getting unemployment cuz the economy is so bad you can't really get no help and assistance and they’ll give you $100 a pop for the first six visits,” said another.
These plasma hubs are often referred to as “donation centers,” but that’s a misnomer: Plasma is a billion-dollar business fueled by struggling Americans who sell their plasma to survive between paychecks. How this came to be – and why America now provides 70% of the world’s plasma – is the subject of today’s deep-dive.
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Editor’s Note
We want to hear your thoughts on today’s story. Have American states done the right thing by enabling the plasma industry? Or should the US get in line with the rest of the world and ban the industry? Let us know by replying to this email.
And if you missed any of our recent deep-dives, here they are:
Thanks to all who wrote in on yesterday’s story about the PATCO strike. Here’s a selection of your responses.
Courtney wrote:
Hah! So this is the article that got me to join The 66.
My Dad was part of this strike. He was a manager/supervisor that went to work while Reagan and the FAA replaced the fired workers. My Dad worked long days, 18+ hours or more, until the new staff of air traffic controllers was hired.
When it was all said and done, Reagan offered the folks who stayed a great retirement plan. My Dad took that option and was 54 when he retired as the Assistant Chief of DFW tower.
We were some of the lucky ones.
Bruce wrote:
I remember the stike very well and remember that 60% of the population supported Reagan's actions. I also remember that the Union was given a very lucrative package that they rejected. I wish that Local and State Leaders would have taken the same stance with their Unions and future Federal Leaders had also stood up to the Unions. We would have less of a deficit at all levels had this happened.
And Paul from Delaware wrote:
As a young, but well informed, person, I was all for the firing. I felt unions had become corrupt and were taking away the country’s competitiveness with unrealistic demands. Fast forward to 1992 and I was working as a junior level manager in a union environment. At that time I started to see both sides. Especially since as a manager I benefited from any gains the union achieved. Move ahead again to 2019. By 2019 I had risen to senior management and had watched the union lose most of its power. It truly made me sad. I worked well with our union steward and tried to be quietly supportive. By this point I had witnessed the disparity that I believe everyone saw during Covid when we saw together who was really “essential” to our society. I had risen in the ranks and become vehemently pro union along the way. Through that lense, looking back, I would say Reagan’s decision set a course that led to our highly stratified economy today, and ultimately was the wrong decision.
Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow.
–Max and Max