I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Yet again, the American Red Cross (ARC) has been fined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for continued violations of blood safety rules.

“Since the FDA and American Red Cross’s 2003 agreement, the Red Cross has been previously fined $37 million, but the substandard performance of critical Red Cross blood handling functions continues.”-Sidney Wolfe, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group

In an official letter made public on January 13, the ARC was fined $9.59 million for failure to correct violations.  This is not the first time, the ARC has been cited at least 14 times, and fined at least $37 million since 2003!

The ARC insists that the country’s blood supply is “safer today than ever before”, yet implied a confrontational attitude towards the FDA: “We don’t discuss our relationship with the FDA.”-Stephanie Millian, Red Cross spokeswoman

Problems listed include improper training of ARC volunteers in handling blood, and lack of staffing due to consolidation (downsizing?) of facilities in Philadelphia and North Carolina.