Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 04:00:00 PM EST
|
There has been a renewed push to end the 1985 FDA provision that banned gay men from donating blood. Eighteen Senators including Frank Lautenberg signed a letter to the Commissioner of the FDA calling for a change in policy:The senators' letter noted that in March 2006, the American Red Cross, America's Blood Centers and the American Association of Blood Banks reported to an FDA-sponsored workshop that the ban "is medically and scientifically unwarranted." The move to ban donations was a response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, but in their letter the Senators noted that we live in a much different society than we did in 1983:"Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. They said we turn away potentially healthy blood donors because of an out of date system and we're not necessarily any safer for it. But the FDA didn't seem interested in hearing what the Senators had to say:"while FDA appreciates concerns about perceived discrimination, our decision to maintain the deferral policy is based on current science and data and does not give weight to a donor's sexual orientation." That was in an article and I can't find it on the FDA's website, but that's a disappointing response from them. The statement seems kind of ridiculous because how can they not give weight to sexual orientation if it's only a ban on gay men? You can view the letter the Senators sent here. I contacted Steven Goldstein with Garden State Equality for comment and got this:The ban on anyone not being able to give blood is a relic of the stone age. The fact is, safe and unsafe sex practices have nothing to do with sexual orientation and everything to do with individuals on a person to person basis. The Senators pointed out the need for a comprehensive review of the policies that deal with blood donation because currently, a heterosexual woman who has had sex with numerous AIDS-infected partners can give blood after waiting a year, but a gay man who's been celibate since 1978 is banned. The Courier Post had an editorial yesterday endorsing Lautenberg's efforts to end the ban:lifting the ban will save lives -- and bring an end to a needless bias against a considerable segment of our population. The editorial called it an archaic policy that limits desperately needed blood supplies. If we're able to screen blood for diseases, it shouldn't matter whether that blood comes from heterosexuals or homosexuals. If fear is driving public policy making, the soundness of the decisions needs to be called into question. |
| Jason Springer :: The push to change "archaic" blood donation guidelines |
|
|
Featured Stories  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
