Posted on 12/28/2014 12:32:46 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it's easing restrictions on gay men donating blood, reversing a policy enacted during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic decades earlier.
In a statement released Tuesday, the FDA said easing the ban came after several years of research into the matter.
"Following this review, and taking into account the recommendations of advisory committees to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA, the agency will take the necessary steps to recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for men who have sex with men from indefinite deferral to one year since the last sexual contact," stated the FDA.
"The FDA intends to issue a draft guidance recommending this proposed change in policy in 2015, which will also include an opportunity for public comment."
In 1983, the FDA established a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who had had sexual intercourse with other men.
The ban came in response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic, as many were contracting the disease via blood transfusions from blood donated by HIV-positive individuals.
A notable example was professional African-American tennis player Arthur Ashe, who contracted the AIDS virus via a blood transfusion.
"At the time, little was known about the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes the disease, and there was no quick test to determine whether somebody had it," reported The New York Times.
"Restrictions on donors were written when HIV testing was slower and less refined. Today, some tests can detect the virus in blood as little as nine days after infection."
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
...and they expect this group of radicals to tell the truth? Stupid.
Isn’t the whole point of being gay to have as many anonymous partners as possible?
Yet another newly discovered “right” found in the penumbra?
Loco
Yep, first question that came to my mind... how can they know if these folks have been abstinent for a year?
we’re sacrificing the safety of the nation’s blood supply so a favored special interest group feels good about themselves
Giving blood is already on the honor system. They can give blood if they don’t admit they’re gay. The Red Cross has a database of all previous blood donors that shows the ones with tainted blood, and not just AIDS. They already do a pretty good job of keeping the blood supply safe. This whole thing is just about redefining homosexuality as normal.
So, the American blood supply will now be completely at the mercy of the honor system involving people who regularly lie about sex?
Note to self: Try not to never need a transfusion.
Bingo!!
Probably a practical way to save a few bucks if facing major surgery.
*ever*
No way a queer can go more that 24 hours without shoving his winky up some other dude’s bung hole. That’s their whole purpose in life.
What could go wrong?
In this context the term ‘abstinent’ will require a strict legal definition; and we will soon learn that it doesn’t mean what we think it means.
Being a pervert now trumps public safety!
Who will keeping queer score?
Newlywed Game
Bob Eubanks (host): “Where is the strangest place you
and your wife have ever had sex?”
Contestant: “Dat be da butt, Bob”.
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