[Public health safety and transfusion organization].

The reform of French blood transfusion, launched in 1993, has established a control system of blood transfusion public services and blood products. This reform was implemented in accordance with Ethics regarding the use of products of human origin; while assuring autosufficiency, it favors a sparing use of blood products. Product safety is guaranteed firstly by the official blood transfusion practice guidelines which provide rules for each stage of the process, and secondly by the performance and quality controls performed prior to transfusion (registration of products, screening tests) as well as in the course of the process (quality control and assurance) or after transfusion (external product control performed by the French agency for drugs "Agence du Médicament"). The safety of products is based on a series of organisational measures for blood transfusion public services: local organization schemes, staff qualifications, computerization, implementation of an hemovigilancy system. It is the control of the whole network which is a guarantee of the final security for the patients transfused. Time is required to carry out such a large scale reform, even if much progress has already been made. The level of safety and quality reached today by French blood transfusion permits a favorable comparison between France and the other developed countries.