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Throughout the last month, we’ve reported on how the war in Iran has affected people financially in Massachusetts. As soaring gas prices force some families to sell clothes and jewelry and pull back on spending, selling blood plasma has become another way people say they’re coping with rising costs.
Plasma is a yellow gooey substance in our blood that’s used to create treatments for conditions such as immune deficiencies, severe burns and liver disease. Selling, or “donating” plasma, as the pharmaceutical industry often calls it, involves drawing blood, separating the plasma from the rest of the blood with a special machine, and then pumping the blood back into the donor’s arm.
GBH News’ Sam Turken spoke with several people who have sold their plasma at for-profit centers locally, and today we share three of their stories. But first, a few headlines.
Four Things to Know
1. Seven Allston Car Wash employees who were detained by federal immigration officials last year have filed a federal complaint, a required first step toward a potential lawsuit seeking financial damages from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over their arrest and treatment. The complaint, a copy of which was shared with GBH News, claims the seven immigrants “suffered egregious harm as a result of an aggressive, militarized and indiscriminate raid” on Nov. 4, 2025. The workers are seeking $1 million each, plus legal fees.
2. Hazardous spikes in particle pollution left some Massachusetts counties with failing grades, according to a new “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association. Some of those worst pollution days can be linked to Canadian wildfires in 2023, according to Daniel Fitzgerald, the American Lung Association’s director of advocacy for Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Air quality across Massachusetts has steadily improved in recent years, but the report shows particle pollution (soot) and smog have worsened in some counties.
3. Recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows fresh vegetables are one of the food groups seeing price increases so far this year. The data shows all food items are expected to rise at least 3% from last year. One of the main causes is a warming climate. Claire Morenon with the nonprofit Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) in Deerfield, Massachusetts, said farmers in New England are experiencing more unpredictable weather, including severe flooding and drought.
4. Artificial intelligence is slowly being integrated into almost every aspect of daily life, including medicine. In recent years, it has become widely used, particularly for administrative support, diagnostics and medical imaging. To learn more, GBH Morning Edition host Mark Herz spoke with Marzyeh Ghassemi, an MIT computer science professor, about the promise — and potential problems — of AI in medicine.
People are selling their plasma across Massachusetts to deal with rising prices
An estimated 200,000 people sell their blood plasma every day in the United States,, according to the Blood Plasma Center at Georgetown University. GBH News’ Sam Turken spoke with folks who sold their plasma at for-profit plasma centers in Greater Boston and Worcester. Here are three of their stories.
Kenneth Younger, Allston: “I’m just trying to pay my bills,” he said. Younger works as a substance-abuse counselor and drives to meet clients. He said he started selling his plasma in February after struggling to cover rent, student loans and gas. “Things are just a little too pricey for a little too long,” he said. “They’ve been getting worse. … I go here. Boom. One donation is a full tank.”
Randi Thayer, Rutland: “I’ve got a car repair right now that I’m trying to pull together money for. So if the car doesn’t go, the gas doesn’t do me any good,” she said. Thayer is an assistant manager at a Tractor Supply Company store. She said seeing people hooked up to plasma machines — which draw blood, separate out the plasma and return red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets to the body — reminded her of the dystopian Netflix series “Black Mirror.”
College student, East Boston: “I wouldn’t say that I’m proud to donate my plasma. It is a little bit humiliating, having to do this to be able to work,” he said. “But you got to do what you got to do.” He was among several people who asked that GBH News not publish their full names because they don’t want others to know they sell plasma. The student, who attends Northeastern University, goes to BioLife Plasma Services twice a week — the maximum allowed under federal law. He drives to Worcester for work and, with gas prices spiking after U.S. and Israeli attacks in Iran, now pays about $50 more to fill his tank.
Turken also spoke to an economist who studies why people sell plasma.
Dig deeper:
-Local thrift, pawn shops say rising costs are driving more business
-40% of Massachusetts households had trouble paying for food last year, new report shows
-As SNAP benefits stalled, a Massachusetts teen stepped up with a digital lifeline: MySnapMap
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