Giving blood is one of those easy and rewarding actions that you can do without expecting anything in return. Going voluntarily through a small inconvenience just to give something others need, and doing it without any market involved, money, points, karma, rewards, is a nice human experience to me. Maybe that's just my compensation, but the point is, try it, do it, enjoy the act of helping for free.
Last time I gave blood, about 6 weeks later I received a letter in the mail saying I had Hepatitis B.
As a poor, semi-homeless late teenager that scared the shit out of me. I called and called trying to get answers as to how that could have happened, but they couldn't tell me.
A month later, I received a follow up letter saying that I had been accidentally misclassified along with hundreds of other people and that I didn't have Hepatitis B.
However, I have been banned from donating blood until I pay for a test to prove that I don't have hepatitis B.
Not to undermine the selflessness aspect, but there is some evidence that regular blood donation is actually healthy — especially I believe for men, who tend to have higher blood pressure and higher levels of iron, both of which are alleviated through whole blood or red cell donation.
I understand why blood donations cannot be paid, but it was hard for me to square away donating blood that the banks sell for hundreds of dollars.
A blood test revealed concerningly high iron numbers (I'm a carrier for hemochromatosis). It's treatable by regular bloodletting, so actually it's free healthcare!
I looked at the evidence and it seemed to me it was not healthy to give blood so I stopped.
I'd be pushing on this hard, it isn't getting better and it'll swing on a dime if general opinion goes badly on the health issue.
I image it's close to impossible to do science on this in the West anymore, the universities are full of Imposters and private industry isn't going to put up with the grief from university Imposters and the general public for the amount this is worth.
Hope that China sees it as a priority. People who support real science need to find a way to support China.
