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NHS To Give Volunteers "Synthetic Blood" Made In a Laboratory Within Two Years
schwit1 writes: The NHS plans to test artificial blood made from human stem cells in patients and hopes to start transfusing people with artificial blood by 2017. The trials will take place in Cambridge and If successful could lead to the mass production of artificial blood. The Independent reports: "A long-awaited clinical trial of artificial red blood cells will occur before 2017, NHS scientists said. The blood is made from stem cells extracted from either the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies or the blood of adult donors. The trial, thought to be a world first, will involve small transfusions of a few teaspoons of synthetic blood to test for any adverse reactions. It will allow scientists to study the time the manufactured red blood cells can survive within human recipients. Eventually, it is hoped that the NHS will be able to make unlimited quantities of red blood cells for emergency transfusions."
especially since donors are way more likely to have loathsome diseases transmitted via blood
This is not so much of a concern in the UK (it is the NHS in the article)
Two points:
1) All blood used in the UK is extensively screened before use
2) In the UK people are not paid for blood - it's a donation. Thus the case of desperate people selling blood for ready cash doesn't arise. There is also a long questionnaire to be filled in every time you donate (whether it's your 1st or 40th time) which is used to screen out people who have visited countries at risk, engaged in risky sexual behaviour, had injections recently, are on medication .....
There is actually a fun(if now somewhat dated looking, just check out all those giant flip phones) British TV series that revolves pretty closely around synthetic blood. Called "Ultraviolet"(not to be confused with the terrible movie by the same name); didn't run terribly long, unfortunately; but worth a watch if you can find it around.
It definitely has the best answer to "How would a SWAT team be equipped if they were dealing with vampires?" that I've yet seen. A life lesson.