[The blood donor].

The blood donor. In France, every year, 1.6 million people perform one or more voluntary blood donations. These 3 millions annual donations allow the preparation of labile blood products by the French blood establishment: concentrates of red blood cells, platelets, therapeutic plasma; as well as plasma-derived medicinal products by the laboratory of the French fractionation and biotechnologies laboratory: immunoglobulins, albumin, clotting factors. This article reviews the ethical and medical aspects of this social and humanitarian act that needs to be regulated to ensure the safety of both donors and recipients.