American Red Cross Cited by FDA for Blood-Safety Rule Violations
Blumberg news reported that the American Red Cross failed to correct violations of blood-safety rules, raising the risk that ill-suited blood will be used in transfusions, U.S. regulators said. The FDA fined the Red Cross $9.59 million, according to a letter from the agency to the Red Cross made public on Jan. 13. The organization has been cited 14 times since 2003 and fined about $46 million for similar offenses. The Red Cross didn’t ensure that all staff had adequate blood-safety training and hasn’t created a complete list of prospective donors who were disqualified from giving blood, according to the letter. The Washington-based consumer group Public Citizen this month urged the agency to levy sanctions.
