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In America, blood means big business. It's this whole multibillion dollar industry, and there are centers all over the country. The North American blood market was valued at $3.3 billion in 2021, and America's blood makes up over 2% of U.S. exports. And since there is no substitute for human blood, demand can be hard to meet. You're at a one day supply of blood right now? One day supply of blood. There are still sporadic shortages. That could have life or death consequences. This is a public health resource. It gives life. It's an amazing thing. But there are still hurdles for some groups. Gay rights! A historic FDA study that could reverse a ban on gay men who want to donate blood. The FDA's blood ban, it's not following the science. Grifols, CSL Plasma, Takeda's BioLife, and Octapharma are huge players in the blood collection space, particularly plasma, and donors are compensated, and that plasma can be used for therapies provided by big pharmaceutical companies. The collection of blood plasma for compensation is banned in most of the world. The U.S. supplies 70% of the world's plasma, creating this unique American blood economy. That reward for donating has kept me donating because I couldn't make it otherwise. I couldn't buy gas. I couldn't pay my car insurance. Here's how the weird economy of blood works and why the U.S. is such a major player. You either make what's called a whole blood donation, which takes about 30 minutes, where you give roughly a pint of blood. Plasma donation is quite different from a whole blood donation. Or you give what's called an aphresis unit, which is a little more extensive, you get hooked up to a similar machine. And this machine extracts blood and it separates the yellowish plasma component from the rest of the blood cells. And that's a greater time commitment. And then you get a cookie. One blood donation can be broken down into different components. That way, more than one patient can be treated. Look at this vial of blood. You'll see the red blood cells making up the bottom portion, a white layer in the middle, that's the white blood cells and platelets, and then the yellowish section? That's plasma, making up 55% of blood. And it transports nutrients, hormones, proteins to the parts of the body that need it. So due to its nutrient rich properties, blood plasma is used in medicines to treat a range of medical conditions. The U.S. blood supply ran dangerously low over the pandemic. With the cancellation of elective surgeries, we suddenly had a surplus of blood. Then COVID caused cancellations of thousands of blood drives across the country. Plus, the baby boomers are aging out of the donor pool. And we're not seeing younger generations pick up the slack, and we need them to very badly. As a millennial, it didn't make sense to just edit this story without going and donating blood myself. In order...