Posted on 12/23/2014 11:05:08 AM PST by reaganaut1
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it would scrap a decades-old lifetime prohibition on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, a change that experts said was long overdue and could lift the annual blood supply by as much as 4 percent.
The F.D.A. enacted the ban in 1983, early in the AIDS epidemic. 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. But science — and the understanding of H.I.V. in particular — has advanced in the intervening decades, and on Tuesday the F.D.A. acknowledged as much, lifting the lifetime ban but keeping in place a more modest block on donations by men who have had sex with other men in the last 12 months.
In a statement, the agency said it had “carefully examined and considered the scientific evidence” before changing the policy. It said it intended to issue a draft guidance detailing the change in 2015.
The shift puts the United States on par with European countries like Britain, which adjusted its lifetime ban in favor of a 12-month restriction in 2011. Men’s health advocates welcomed the move, saying that the ban was not based on the latest science and that it perpetuated stigma about gay men as a risk to the health of the nation. [...]
“This is a major victory for gay civil rights,” said I. Glenn Cohen, a law professor at Harvard University who specializes in bioethics and health. “We’re leaving behind the old view that every gay man is a potential infection source." He said, however, that the policy was “still not rational enough."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Another good reason for banking ones own blood for the future. That is possible, right?
Even the tests for HIV in donated blood are far from reliable, people have a VARIABLE time in which they can have HIV and be contagious, yet test a false negative. That’s why they say 1 year celibacy, because it’s so unlikely to get a false negative one year from the time of initial infection. They do test the blood for a variety of diseases, but they recommend that YOU DO NOT use donating blood as a test for the diseases because diseases can possibly make it through the screening, especially if you give blood soon after the initial infection.
Yes it is, in fact, you can pay to have anything from your own blood to your own bone marrow banked for your possible emergency use in the future, at the neccessary price.
The likelihood is smaller than it used to be that disease will make it in via a false negative in the screening. However, probability doesn’t matter much if it is you who end up being the one in one thousand or one in millions who gets the misfortune. My best guess is that they expect very few people will get it so they can easily hush up the few that do with some payoffs if it does happen.
FWIW, you could very well be right. Probably not just very many infections though given the small percentage of the population who are homosexual men.
Might be worth it! I guess anyone could forgo a few Lattes from Starbucks, right?
I am curious who told you or why you think your seasonal allergy or your tree nut allergy prevent you from donating blood?
While it is advisable not to donate while feeling ill or if you are having severe allergy symptoms or have a secondary infection (bronchitis, sinusitis), having mild symptoms (runny nose and sneezing) and even taking allergy medications or even taking allergy shots do not necessarily prevent you from donating blood.
I have never heard of anyone with any type of food allergy not being allowed to donate blood. There is some question as to whether a blood donor who recently ingested an allergen like peanuts could cause an allergic reaction to a recipient who has such an allergy, I don’t think that is high on the list of concerns. I have read that there is some concern about people with peanut and tree nut allergies and other allergies passing antibodies that could cause the recipient of their blood or blood products (or donated organs) to become allergic themselves, but that is exceedingly rare and not universally accepted.
http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/allergic-individual-blood-donor.aspx
Can I donate if I have allergies?
You cannot donate if you are currently experiencing severe allergy symptoms.
http://www.centralbloodbank.org/donate-blood/eligibility/health-history
Allergies
You can donate if you currently have acceptable symptoms. Acceptable symptoms are a runny nose and a non-productive cough. (Allergy shots are acceptable.)
http://biotestplasma.com/donation-process/eligibility-guidelines/#Allergies
Allergies
If you are not feeling well and / or have allergy, cold or flu-like symptoms, you should not donate. If you have mild allergies and taking medication for this condition, generally you are eligible to donate provided you are symptom-free on your donation days. If you have food allergies, you should be eligible to donate.
Having allergies should not prevent you from donating blood as long as you are in generally good health otherwise, not otherwise prohibited for other conditions and not feeling ill or having a severe allergy attack and symptoms on the day you donate. You are very unlikely to pass your allergies on to the person receiving your blood. I have severe seasonal allergies, am highly allergic to poison ivy and bee stings and HBP that is controlled by medication and I donate blood at least once a year.
At 4% being mixed around that isn’t exactly “very few.” If it is going unguarded.
But who is to say I answered, or anyone else for that matter, gay or straight answers all these questions honestly?
What if I from 1980 through 1996 spent time that adds up to three (3) months or more in the United Kingdom but I answer “No”? Is the Red Cross or other blood donation orgs. going to check my passport? What if I had sexual contact with anyone who was born in or lived in Africa but I answer No? How do they know that I am answering this question honestly?
How do they know for sure that as a female that I never had sexual contact with anyone who has ever used needles to take drugs or steroids, or anything not prescribed by their doctor? What if I had had sexual contact with a boyfriend (or husband) who was taking steroids via needles but I didn’t know?
How do they know that I didn’t get an embarrassing tattoo or a body piercing in a private area in the last year or that once during my misspent youth many years ago, I was in juvenile detention, lockup, jail, or prison for more than 72 hours? Are they going to check my criminal or juvy record? Are they going to strip search me for recent tattoos?
What if I am a gay man who passes for straight, i.e. doesn’t broadcast “flaming queen” and I answer “No” to the question “Since 1977 had sexual contact with another male, even once?” If I answer “No”, what was to stop me from donating blood even before the revised prohibition from “even once” to “in the last 12 months”?
In other words the questionnaires were and are still completely voluntarily and depend on the honesty of the donor so this IMO doesn’t really change much of anything.
IIRC, one of the ways the Red Cross encourages honesty on the questionnaire is to allow someone who answered “Yes” to any of the potentially “embarrassing” questions that might prevent them from donating, especially in a workplace blood drive, is to go through the process of having the blood drawn but having their blood labeled “do not use” with a code that is only decipherable and understandable to the Red Cross. This prevents someone the embarrassment of having to explain to co-workers or their employer why they were not able to donate. The blood in this case is disposed of and not used.
While not perhaps 100% reliable, FWIW all blood donations are tested for HIV and other blood born diseases like Hepatitis B and C and West Nile.
http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/what-happens-donated-blood/blood-testing
I understand the concern regarding gay men donating blood but to be honest, if you read through the blood donation questionnaire, it is not only sexually active gay men you have to be concerned about donating blood.
The best way IMO to ensure a good supply of usable and “clean” blood to those who need it, is for healthy, clean living individuals, those without health conditions and risk factors that prohibit it and who can answer the questionnaire honestly (and yes I’m talking to you my fellow FReepers) is to donate blood and donate often.
Donating blood is pretty much painless and only takes about 30 minutes.
If this 17 year old teenage girl can donate blood, what is your excuse for not doing it?
Donating Blood for the First Time
Someone who’s life was saved because of blood donations:
Why donate blood? The Story of Molly Moses
Quite frankly, I don’t want to hear from people who have never even tried, not even once to donate blood or would never consider donating, complaining about the blood supply.
Then why not get all the healthy people to donate loads of blood? At least overwhelming the other tainted blood may be te best we can do.
Hmmm. All you have to do is not admit you’re gay when you donate.
To be a Christian was in my soul from the day I was born. Some of us were chosen to follow this light, others, will never follow the light even when it is offered to them.
“This could really be the end of the blood donation system”
I don’t think there is an army of fags out there just waiting to ‘donate’ their blood. What this about is the ability to SELL blood, which unfortunately is where a lot the supply comes from.
I suspect people that actually take the time and the effort to ‘donate’ blood don’t tend to be the trash and weirdos that sell their blood. Unfortunately, when you or a loved one suddenly needs a transfusion, there is little means to tell where it is coming from, but probably quite a bit of it was paid for.
“F.D.A. Lifting Ban on Gay Blood Donors”
What could possibly go wrong. . .
This is how Obama will make health care affordable....
poison the well
just like His spread of Ebola...
poison the well
“just go home and take a pill” remember he said that?
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