Blood donations from Sept. 11 expire
Submitted on October 26, 2001 - 12:00am.
Katy Marquardt - Fall 2001
Hundreds of pints of blood donated in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reached the end of their useful life this week - unused.
Since blood has a shelf life of only 42 days, pints donated in the overwhelming response during the days following Sept. 11 began expiring Tuesday. While some blood banks have the capability to freeze blood for later use and others sold leftover blood to research facilities or pharmaceutical companies to make drugs, a lot of blood is being discarded.
America's Blood Centers, which represents 450 donation sites around the country, says about 1 percent of the 262,000 units collected in the days after the attack will expire without getting full use.
Since blood has a shelf life of only 42 days, pints donated in the overwhelming response during the days following Sept. 11 began expiring Tuesday. While some blood banks have the capability to freeze blood for later use and others sold leftover blood to research facilities or pharmaceutical companies to make drugs, a lot of blood is being discarded.
America's Blood Centers, which represents 450 donation sites around the country, says about 1 percent of the 262,000 units collected in the days after the attack will expire without getting full use.
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