Ban on female plasma donors possible

The Fresno Bee ^ | 12-29-06 | Barbara Anderson

[Enterprise]

"The Central California Blood Center may stop accepting plasma donations from women next year, sharply reducing the number of donors in the central San Joaquin Valley."

[Enterprise]

"Women face being excluded as donors because proteins called human leukocyte antibodies are created in their bodies during pregnancy. People transfused with plasma that carries the antibodies are more likely to develop a rare but potentially deadly lung condition."

[Prince Charles]

People transfused with plasma that carries the antibodies are more likely to develop a rare but potentially deadly lung condition."

The people be damned. Where's the ACLU when you need them to stop this blatant discrimination?

[traditional1]

Why do I sense a Class Action lawsuit to be forthcoming ?

[ASA Vet]

This poor young lady obviously suffers from this deadly condition.
She falls over forward frequently and could strike her head on something hard.

[Enterprise]

Really. The ACLU ought to be screaming bloody murder over this discrimination!

[Enterprise]

Oh man, I hope I'm there when she falls over. Please oh please oh please.

[MeanWestTexan]

They certainly are upset because anal sodomites cannot donate blood, just because of that pesky AIDS thing they spread.

[Enterprise]

It won't be a nice lawsuit either. They'll be out for blood.

[Enterprise]

I say let the sodomites donate blood. It makes good plant fertilizer.

[taxcontrol]

I'm told that certain types of massage therapy can help with her condition. I'd be glad to help the girl out.

[traditional1]

I think this is supposed to be in the other thread, that includes "Big Boobs Bangeroo II"

[ASA Vet]

You're supposed to provide a link when referencing other threads. Even if it's a very very large link.

[netmilsmom]

So why don't they just do a pregancy test first?

[ASA Vet]

Or just test the plasma for human leukocyte antibody proteins.
Maybe the test costs more than the plasmas is worth?

[traditional1]

LINK=

[edcoil]

Blood is not plasma - is the title wrong?

You can donate blood that can be turned into plasma. I think the story needs to be written and fixed.

[Enterprise]

"So why don't they just do a pregnancy test first?"

"According to the association's Nov. 3 bulletin, about 15% to 20% of female donors have antibodies, compared to fewer than 1% of male donors. Males presumably develop antibodies if they have had previous transfusions."

I'm going to make a wild leap of logic here. The antibodies may not only be present in currently pregnant females, but could be present long after a pregnancy. I am making that guess because of the last line of the quote which demonstrates that this antibody can also be present in males who have had a previous transfusion. It shows that a person doesn't have to be pregnant to have the antibody.

[CertainInalienableRights]

Hopefully, I can keep this short, but I was listening to Bob and Tom this morning (radio show) and they had a guest comedian who had been on "Star Search". He told the story of a model who was a contestant and walked onto the stage in one of those very tight skirts that requires the woman to take small steps because of limited leg movement.

In any event, she tripped and lost her balance. Without being able to move her legs sufficiently, she wasn't able to regain her balance and fell forward.

According to the comedian, the weird part was that she didn't put her arms forward to break her fall, like most people would do reflexively, but instead put her arms back so she would land on her, um, ample feminine assets to break her fall.

[Enterprise]

From the article I get the impression that women can still be blood donors, but they are being considered to be refused as plasma donors.

[ASA Vet]

This has to be a test. Can a thread survive two Smart Asses.

My apologies to enterprise for hijacking the thread and for giving straight lines to traditional1.