The Los
Angeles Times on Thursday published an
editorial calling for the Food and Drug Administration to
scrap its policy that bars all sexually active gay men
from donating blood, saying blood-screening safeguards
should be based on science, not outdated
preconceptions about groups most at risk for HIV infection.
Currently, the FDA permanently bars all gay men
who've had sex even one time with another man
since 1971 from ever donating blood. The policy was enacted
in the 1980s, when gay men accounted for the majority of HIV
infections, as a way to lower the risk of HIV entering
the nation's blood supply.
But better
blood-screening technologies today make it highly unlikely
for any infected blood from any donor to make it into
the blood supply, according to the editorial. All
donated blood is screened for nine infectious
diseases, including two separate tests that are used to
screen for HIV, the editorial says.
"There is no
longer any scientific reason to continue" the ban
because of these new screening methods, the editorial
concludes. "Allowing men who have sex with men
to donate would increase the blood supply and
potentially save lives. Instead of a permanent ban, the
editorial recommends a short-term ban of several weeks or
months after having sex to ensure that HIV-positive
gay and bisexual men unaware they were recently
infected do not unknowingly donate infected blood. (The
Advocate)