Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America’s Blood Industry

Blending memoir and reportage, journalist McLaughlin debuts with a disturbing look at the predatory nature of the blood plasma industry. Plasma, “the watery, yellowish protein compound of blood,” is collected by hooking donors up to a centrifuge so their blood can be extracted, spun into its parts, and infused back into the donor’s arm. One of only five countries that allows payment for plasma donors, the U.S. is the primary source of the world’s supply, and McLaughlin, who suffers from a rare nerve disease treated with infusions of a plasma-borne medicine, profiles sellers, many of whom come from “economically disadvantaged” communities like Flint, Mich., and El Paso, Tex., where donation centers thrive. About 10,000 Mexicans cross the border into the U.S. each week to sell their plasma, she notes. McLaughlin also sketches the history of the plasma economy in the Chinese province of Henan, which became ground zero for a devastating AIDS outbreak in the 1990s. Throughout, she interweaves shocking revelations about lax regulations, tainted blood, and potential side effects for frequent donors with piercing meditations on how it feels to know that her medication “is built on the backs of quiet, hidden economic desperation.” The result is a captivating and anguished exposé. Agent: Ian Bonaparte, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)