America is one of the leading first world countries to export their citizen’s blood: around 70% of global plasma comes from the US, 16.3% ($1.4 billion) of all blood exported in 2018 came from the US, placing them second in the global ranking–with Ireland at number one boasting a shocking 37.8%–and between 2014-2018 the US posted an increase of 165.4%, according to World’s Top Exports.
Perhaps, most shockingly, comes the revelation that the total dollar worth of all American blood extracted at the source is around 2% of the country’s total exports.
Plasma is one of the primary focuses in blood extraction, given its function in transporting proteins and red and white blood cells around the body.
