A U.S. advisory panel will meet to discuss the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, a policy other countries already follow.
Doctors and blood donation advocates who advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are meeting today to discuss whether the blood ban imposed on gay men should end. The advocates’ recommendations, for or against the ban, will be considered by the Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 2. Dating back to 1983, the policy states men who had sex with another man anytime since 1977 are banned from giving blood in the U.S., due to concern the AIDS virus could be transmitted through blood transfusions.
If the ban is deferred, the U.S. will likely adopt the same policy as the UK, Australia, and Canada that only bans gay men from giving blood until a year or five years after their last same-sex encounter.
“I think blood collection organizations have all come out in favor of a one-year change,” Debra Kessler, director of special donor services at the New York Blood Center said. “I don’t think the FDA is considering more.”
New data will be examined on whether blood safety can be maintained under a revised policy. According to the FDA’s website, there is a one per 2 million chance of contracting HIV from a blood transfusion. If the ban is fully eliminated, additional blood donations would be offered, in turn helping millions more people.
While every unit of donated blood is tested for the virus, there is an 11-day window in which current tests can’t detect HIV in people who just contracted it, Kessler said. A one-year deferral would allow more than enough time for the virus to be strong enough to be detected.
Director of Public Policy at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Jason Cianciotto, and his husband have been monogamous for 11 years and still cannot donate blood. He argues men who have sex with men are stigmatized and the policy no longer needs to be implemented thanks to modern technology.
“This discussion needs to be about how donor deferral perpetuates the stigma of men who have sex with men having HIV,” said Jason Cianciotto, director of public policy at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization based in New York. “It’s a federal government policy that is no longer scientifically necessary because of advancements in testing.”
The nation’s largest supplier of blood and blood products, the American Red Cross, is in support of a one-year deferral.
SOURCE: BLOOMBERG | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
