FDA Lifts Formal Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has formally lifted the ban, allowing gay and bisexual men donate blood, so long as they've abstained from sex for a year.
That changes the current guidance, which is that any man who have ever had sex with another man in his entire life should never be able to donate blood. It's a policy that has enraged gay rights groups and that is virtually impossible to enforce.
"No transmissions of HIV, hepatitis B virus, or hepatitis C virus have been documented through U.S.-licensed plasma derived products in the past two decades," the FDA says in its recommendation.
The FDA also handed a victory to transgender people, saying donors may choose how to identify their sex.
The reason for banning donations by men who have sex with other men is simple: they are at much higher risk of becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as other viruses such as hepatitis B and C.
While a lifetime ban of donations from gay men has been in existence for 32 years, the FDA in May issued a draft of guidelines for screening gay or bisexual donors that will instead defer donations from men who have had sex with another man in the past year.
Though all blood donations in the United States are screened for HIV, there is a window of several days where a recent infection of the virus cannot be detected. The FDA said this new policy will continue to properly screen out blood donors at an increased risk of carrying HIV.
Reactions to the changes on the policy from gay activists have been mixed with some saying it's a step in the right direction while others feel the year-long wait is still unnecessary.
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