As I left the Piedmont Blood Center on Main Street, I enjoyed that self-satisfied, yes, even smug feeling that I had done my civic duty! I dropped into the Center at my convenience and, in less than an hour, was in and out. I think everyone who can safely give blood, should. It saves lives and for most people, it’s an easy way to help others.
The Food and Drug Adminsitration (FDA) blood donation policy denies gay and bisexual men this opportunity to help others and contribute to the common good. If medical science hadn’t advanced since the 1980’s, this would be a necessary ban, along with similar bans against Haitians and Africans and, in Washington DC, all African American women (this group now has a frighteningly high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS). Of these, only people from a few African countries are banned from donating. Of course, medical science has advanced since then. In fact,
The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
America’s Blood Centers (ABC)
and the American Red Cross (ARC)
have all been calling for the ban’s revision since 1997—that’s 12 years!
In March 2006, the FDA held a workshop on this issue. Dr. Steven Kleinman, Senior Medical Advisor for the American Red Cross, stated then that “current duplicate testing using NAT and serologic methods allow detection of HIV- infected donors between 10 and 21 days after exposure. .. It does not appear rational to broadly differentiate sexual transmission via male-to-male sexual activity from that via heterosexual activity on scientific grounds... To many, this differentiation is unfair and discriminatory.” Yet, the FDA, ignored the recommendations of all four professional groups and took no action to revise the ban.
So, why is there a ban against gay men donating blood?
What do you think?
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