Red Cross Mismanagement Puts Blood Supply at Risk

by James Parks, May 19, 2010

Members of AFSCME Local 3145 in Connecticut demonstrate for a fair contract with the Red Cross last October.

The federal government must step up enforcement of rules protecting the nation’s blood supply and force the Red Cross to drastically improve its blood safety practices, several groups said today.

During a press conference in Washington, D.C., this morning, leaders of the AFL-CIO, the Workers Committee for Blood Safety, the National Consumers League, the Committee of Ten Thousand and the Hemophilia Federation of America called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase enforcement action with the Red Cross and ensure the safety of the nation’s blood supply.

The coalition points out that year after year, the Red Cross violates blood safety regulations and exposes the public to potentially dangerous blood products that could put blood recipients at risk for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, malaria and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League, told reporters:

We believe the Red Cross is failing to take the steps needed to improve its safety practices. We are particularly concerned about the large number of blood products that were distributed despite the fact that Red Cross had already identified them as suspect or unsuitable. No one in America should have to worry that the blood they are receiving in a transfusion could be from a tainted blood product. 

Red Cross management is blaming its employees for the problems with the blood. But AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said the Red Cross’s labor policies are to blame.

Red Cross employees know best what is going on with blood drives and safety. They believe there is a clear link between bad American Red Cross labor policies and blood safety compliance failures. This includes understaffing blood drives, assigning workers to regular 14 hour days, and eliminating the most experienced licensed medical personnel, creating a low-morale, high-turnover work environment.

Instead of blaming workers, the American Red Cross needs to invest in its workforce and improve work conditions, she said.

For the past 17 years, the Red Cross has operated under a federal consent decree that requires it to clean up its blood safety practices. Since 2003, the FDA has fined the Red Cross $21 million for blood safety violations.

The Workers Committee for Blood Safety, which includes thousands of front-line red Cross employees, also held press conferences today in six cities today to call on their employer to eliminate understaffing and long hours, which they say can lead to unsafe blood supply practices.

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