The biggest criticism of the red cell industry is that the shortage is entirely artificial. There’s a pretty large population with hereditary hemochromatosis who have to get regular phlebotomists to prevent a buildup of excess iron.

Most blood banks (including the Red Cross) won’t accept hemochromatomates as donors, so all that perfectly good blood gets poured down the drain. The ostensible reason is they don’t want “motivated donors”, the real reason is because blood banks get fat reimbursements for “therapeutic phlebotomies”.