Haiti 1972
First Published: February 14, 1972;
Source: Intercontinental Press, Vol. 10, No. 6, p.138;
Transcription: Amaury Rodriguez, 2019.
Transcriber’s note: This article appeared in Intercontinental Press (IP), a weekly magazine published in New York on behalf on the Fourth International from 1963 to 1986. I thank Pathfinder Press for granting me permission to post this article.
Bleeding the poor is a normal operation for capitalist firms, but few do it quite as literally as Hemo Caribbean, an American-owned company operating in Haiti.
For the past eight months, Hemo Caribbean has been extracting 350 liters of plasma a day from the blood of poor Haitians. The donors are paid $3, while the company reportedly shows a profit of $4 to $5 a liter.
The company’s operations were described by Richard Severo and Francis B. Kent, writing respectively in the January 27 New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
The plasma extracted in Haiti is frozen and shipped to the United States, where it is sold to three pharmaceutical firms. It is usually broken down into gamma globulin, albumin, and other substances sold by the firms.
Once the plasma has been extracted from whole blood, the red blood cells are returned to the body of the donor. Unlike whole blood, plasma may be taken from a donor as often as once a week. Werner Thill, a technical director for Hemo Caribbean, told Kent that the whole operation was of great benefit to the Haitians involved:
“I don’t think you can criticize what we are doing on ethical grounds. We are saving lives. We are providing a source of income in a country where the per capita income is no more than $75 a year.”
Plasma, however, is rich in protein, and those persons so poor as to be forced to sell their blood are likely to be malnourished to begin with.
The Haitian government reportedly receives no payments from Hemo Caribbean, but Luckner Cambronne, the minister of the interior and of defense, is said to have an interest in the company. In addition, the frozen plasma is flown to the United States by Air Haiti, which Cambronne owns.
Hemo Caribbean’s operations have been so profitable – and Haiti has so many poor – that plans are underway to expand its capacity by another 500 liters a day. The company is also planning to open branches in other Caribbean islands.