Polish Police Recover 11 Tons Of Stolen US Blood Plasma

WARSAW, Poland — Polish police recovered 11 tons of human blood plasma that had been stolen from a U.S. company and was on its way to Austria, officials said Thursday.

The truck with a freezer unit carrying the plasma, worth more than euro1 million ($1.4 million), was stolen while the driver made a rest stop in Germany, Polish police spokesman Artur Chorazy said. It was taken across the border into Poland, where it was seized on Wednesday.

Police footage showed frozen salmon-colored plasma packed in boxes originating from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where BioLife Plasma Services, a collection facility owned by Baxter International Inc., has operations.

BioLife spokeswoman Laura Jacobs said the plasma had come from other facilities as well, but did not elaborate.

Jacobs said the company was working with local authorities to determine how the theft occurred. "Importantly, the plasma has been recovered and is currently in Baxter's Vienna facility," she said.

Polish police have made no arrests so far, and believe thieves stole it in hopes of selling it elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Chorazy said.

Plasma is used to treat a wide variety of medical disorders.

Comments

[stargazer13]

12:45 PM on 02/12/2010

this company is a very dangerous company to us all Baxter International Inc.,

they have level 3 and they can not be trusted !!

Tainted vaccines and I mean nasty stuff in them !!

[stargazer13]

12:40 PM on 02/12/2010

Police footage showed frozen salmon-colored plasma packed in boxes originating from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where BioLife Plasma Services, a collection facility owned by Baxter International Inc., has

so what is our plasma doing so far away from home and where is Transylvania located again ?

Dry Humor !

[The Cause Endures]

11:45 AM on 02/12/2010

Perhaps it was on it's way to Transylvania.

[Greybeard53]

12:09 PM on 02/12/2010

Beat me to it...

[stargazer13]

12:41 PM on 02/12/2010

me too could not help my self !! :)

[kimleehan]

10:55 AM on 02/12/2010

My grandmother had one of those bags hanging from under her hospital bed, I was wondering what that was.

[NoComment9]

11:06 AM on 02/12/2010

I'm hoping you are just really young and not that ignorant. A bag hanging under her bed was a catheter bag to collect urine.

[SimJack]

10:16 AM on 02/12/2010

C'mon people, what do you think makes Kielbasa so nutritious and tasty?

[dtmfman]

10:09 AM on 02/12/2010

Breaking News - As a result of the blood plasma theft investigation, it has been revealed that 85% of it came from the spines of congressional democrats....

[fcsakes]

09:34 AM on 02/12/2010

Why are donated blood products being SOLD? And further, why are people who must have those blood products CHARGED for it when it is freely given by millions of people all across the country? And thirdly, if we respond to urgent calls for donation of blood products when resources are low, why are we not told that those products are very likely going to be SOLD out of country and what is Baxter's profit margin on products they received for free?

[BronxRobb]

09:37 AM on 02/12/2010

Your donations are not characterized as "sold." Instead, there is a processing fee that is charged to hospitals. Hefty fee$. A hospital can be charged a "processing fee" of over $400 for a pint of blood!

Processing fees are for all of the overhead - the phlebotomists who draw the blood, the truck drivers who bring equipment for the blood drives, the laboratory testing of all the blood, etc.

[TXfemmom]

11:09 AM on 02/12/2010

Actually, some donate for money. Yes, they still permit donation of plasma for money. We cannot import plasma by law, because of the regulations consider other countries' people to not be as thoroughly safe. They don't want dengue fever, parasites, etc. within the plasma.

However, all along with border with Mexico, they permit Mexican citizens to walk across the border and donate plasma, for money. They get something like $30 for making a donation. I ask you, how is that any different?

Most blood products as in RBC's DO NOT GO OUT OF THE COUNTRY. Only plasma products end up being sent abroad, and that is after the RBC's in the blood donations are used here in the country. Believe me, those RBC's are treated like gold, perishable gold.

[BronxRobb]

12:37 PM on 02/12/2010

I know. Used to work for a blood center.

[BronxRobb]

09:26 AM on 02/12/2010

Some factsabout blood and blood products in the United States:

1. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that DOES NOT have a government run blood collection agency.

2. In the end, ALL of your blood products are sold by the U.S.'s independent blood collection agencies - American Red Cross, NY Blood Center to name 2.

3. It is illegal to sell your blood for the purposes of transfusion. That is, you can not get cash money for your "donation."

4. It is legal to sell your blood for the purposes of clinical trials and experimentation.

5. Blood and it's products are typically shipped where they are needed. If you are New York donor, and have a blood type (or blood with a particular constellation of antigens) that is need by a cancer patient in Washington state, for example) your blood may be shipped there.

[TXfemmom]

11:10 AM on 02/12/2010

Actually, the law permits plasma donation for money. Not whole blood or RBC's, but plasma can be sold.

[The Cause Endures]

11:45 AM on 02/12/2010

Wow. That's effed up.

[Beth Boyle]

08:38 AM on 02/12/2010

creepy story!

[jws2346]

07:26 AM on 02/12/2010

Ahh.., Haa, a job for what's her face the vampire hunter.

[peowlemeow]

06:04 AM on 02/12/2010

Plasma does get bought but there doesn't seem to me any reason why it couldn't be separated from donated blood.What the hell Virginia was doing selling any sort of medicine overseas when Americans could use it I don't know ,German speaking countries buying American body products because their laws don't allow the trade in their own countries is disgusting.

[TXfemmom]

11:14 AM on 02/12/2010

They do separate it from donated blood. There are few times in American medicine, except in trauma, where whole blood is given to patients anymore. The plasma and components are spun off and separated into all the different things, such as fresh frozen plasma which greatly extends the shelf life, Factor 8, and all different forms of Immune Globulins. However, sourcing of it via whole blood donations does not meet requirements. Hundreds of units may be needed to get one dose of a product in sufficient amounts of a factor or cells.

I have a genetic immune problem which requires treatment with immune globulin carrying B lymphocytes, one form of white blood cells. IT IS OBSCENELY expensive.

[peowlemeow]

05:27 PM on 02/12/2010

I donate blood because the impression given by the outfits that receive donations is that they are non-profits.I think you being charged for something donated is disgusting if not evil.Universal health care is the way to go the for profit health industry can stick to vanity surgeries and stay away from Americans.

[bub26]

05:53 AM on 02/12/2010

This story reminds of an episode of South Park where Cartman finds a wrecked truck full of fetuses and then goes about selling them.

[kalvin]

05:03 AM on 02/12/2010

Last year it was human fat now it's plasma humans sure have a lot of recyclable parts.

[Mário Da Silva]

04:25 AM on 02/12/2010

Today stolen tomorrow in Poland!!!

[duxguts]

02:10 AM on 02/12/2010

I don't know your Honor, I went out to the garage and there it was, 11 tons of blood plasma.