TRADE

European Community Eyes Ban on U.S. Plasma Imports: The European Community is moving toward restricting and eventually banning imports of American blood plasma and plasma products, currently worth $650 million a year. EC health ministers in December will consider measures boost to production from volunteer donors and phase out imports. Europe uses 11.1 million pints a year of plasma, the clear, protein-rich fluid in which blood cells float. Half of it comes from paid American donors. Although U.S. products were blamed for infecting several thousand Europeans with the AIDS virus, commercial manufacturers now contend that U.S. procedures for screening plasma and eliminating infection are superior to Europe’s.