Life-time ban on gay men donating blood

May 25 2007

Gay men in the United States will never be allowed to donate blood because of concerns over HIV, hepatitis C and other infections that can be passed on through blood transfusions.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says the lifetime ban reinforces legistation passed in 1983 which was put in place in an attempt to prevent the spread of AIDS.

According to the FDA any man who has engaged in sex with another man as far back as 1977, is not allowed to give blood for the rest of his life as they have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8000 times higher than repeat blood donors.

The Red Cross along with other blood groups have criticized the policy as "medically and scientifically unwarranted."

A shortage of blood donors in recent times had prompted the Red Cross and other agencies to approach the FDA with a view to changing the policy to allow for a 12 month deferral following male-to-male sexual contact, but the FDA says there is a dearth of scientific evidence showing men who had sex with men were 100% clean of disease within that time period.

Prior to giving blood, all men are asked if they have had sex, even once, with another man since 1977 and those who say they have, are permanently banned from donating.

The international blood association AABB and America's Blood Centers say new and improved tests can detect HIV-positive donors within 10 to 21 days of infection, and that make the lifetime ban unnecessary.

The FDA is apparently willing to re-consider its policy if data is produced which shows that doing so would not pose a "significant and preventable" risk to blood recipients.

The FDA says even though current HIV tests are highly accurate, they still cannot detect the virus 100 percent of the time; the estimated HIV risk from a unit of blood is currently about 1 in 2 million in the United States.

Critics say the policy is exclusionary, bars potential healthy donors and discriminates against gays.

The FDA while it recognises the policy excludes many healthy donors, rejects that it discriminates.

The ban also applies to anyone who has used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex.