FDA reconsidering ban on homosexual, bisexual blood donors

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending a new policy which would allow gay men to donate blood provided they have not been sexually active for at least a year.
According to NPR reports, homosexual and bisexual blood donors have been banned from donating blood since the early 1980s, when fears about HIV and AIDS first started spreading throughout the country.
However, in a statement, the agency said that it had reviewed and considered the available scientific evidence on the subject and would recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for males from indefinite to one-year since the last sexual contact with other males.
“It is our responsibility to regulate the blood supply and to help ensure its continued safety for the patients who receive these life-saving products,” FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg said, noting that they had reviewed “the results of several recently completed scientific studies and recent epidemiologic data” as well as “the recommendations of advisory committees.”
“This recommended change is consistent with the recommendation of an independent expert advisory panel… and will better align the deferral period with that of other men and women at increased risk for HIV infection,” she continued, adding that “the FDA has already taken steps to implement a national blood surveillance system that will help the agency monitor the effect of a policy change and further help to ensure the continued safety of the blood supply.”
The agency said that it would be issuing a draft guidance recommending the proposed change early next year, and that there would also be a period of public comment. The policy is similar to those currently implemented in Australia, Japan and the UK, according to NPR.
According to Reuters, the ban on homosexuals donating blood has been in place since 1983. While the policy change is expected to increase the amount of donated blood by hundreds of thousands of pints each year, the agency’s stopped short of doing away with the ban entirely, as some medical groups and advocates recommended, the news organization added.
“We think that it’s a step in the right direction but it certainly doesn’t go far enough,” said John Peller, President and Chief Executive Officer of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “If the goal is to protect the blood supply while also increasing the pool of eligible donors we think that the FDA could go further and we encourage them to continue to review their policy.”
“Having gay men be abstinent for a year before they can donate is not based on any science. It does not take a year after contact to develop HIV,” added Judith Aberg, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “The new HIV tests can detect acute HIV in weeks.”
According to Reuters, the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law at the University of California, Los Angeles reported in September that eliminating the ban entirely would bring in an additional 615,300 pints of blood annually, while instituting a one-year deferral period would bring in 317,000 pints.
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