|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
All materials on this website are copyrighted. Copyright © 2005-2009 by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. All rights reserved.
Mac users: please note that our site is optimized for the Safari browser. |
|
AIDS/HIV
|
Why can't men who have sex with men donate blood?
Originally Published: December 15, 2000
~ Last Updated / Reviewed on: January 04, 2008
|
  |
|
Dear Alice,
This week Columbia hosted a blood drive. Gay men were not allowed to donate. I was so repulsed by this that I, a female friend, refused to donate just on principle. Is there some reason why gay men are still excluded from blood drives? Are they still so much more likely to be HIV positive than heterosexuals? Is this a policy from a time before blood screening was required? Someone said it was some sort of economic benefit. It seems to me that the amount of blood they would get from including such a huge percentage of the population would make up for the maybe one percent (this is what I'm unsure of) that they had to take, screen, and eliminate. There's such a shortage of blood donated in the U.S. Why are we refusing so much healthy blood? Thanks, Dear Frustrated First-Year, The policy that you discovered at the campus blood drive — that men who have had sex with another man since 1977 are banned from donating blood — has existed nationally since 1983. Back in the early eighties, when gay men were among populations affected in high numbers by HIV/AIDS, and a way to screen blood for HIV was not yet available, the decision to bar gay men from donating made sense to many scientists. But times have changed — sort of. In 2000 and again in 2007, panels organized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met to decide whether to ease the ban on blood donations in light of new information and technology. They decided, however, to keep the full ban in place, citing a lack of new evidence assuring that the blood supply would not be jeopordized by changing the requirements for men who have sex with men. The FDA panel also stated that men who have sex with men are still far more likely than the general population to be infected with HIV and expressed concern about the "window period," when HIV is undetectable in a newly infected person. Since tests are now available that can detect HIV just 20 days after infection, and all blood is screened for HIV, some officials support an easing of the donation ban, and regard the continued use of the 1983 policy as an issue of discrimination. In fact, in 2006 the American Red Cross, the AABB (an international blood association) and America's Blood Centers proposed a one-year deferral period following male-to-male sexual contact (which is the same standard used for people who have high-risk sexual behaviors or have used injection drugs) rather than the current "lifetime ban." Gay rights activists point to the blood donation ban as discriminatory because they are based on sexual orientation and not sexual behavior. Blood organizations such as the American Red Cross point to the number of potentially healthy donors who are barred from giving blood as reason to change the current policy. Your frustration with your blood donation experience is understandable. While protecting the nation's blood supply is critically important for all of us, advancing science and improved understanding of sexual orientation versus sexual behavior may play a role in changing blood donation eligibility requirements in the future. You can check out the American Red Cross eligibility requirements page for more information about all of the medical issues impacting blood donor eligibility. You may also be interested in the following organizations that are working on the issue: It appears that the major blood donation organizations share at least some of your concerns about the current exclusion of men who have sex with men from giving blood. You may decide that working with them, both by giving blood and/or by advocating for new eligibility policies with the federal government, would help you feel better about being a donor, if you are still interested next time a blood drive comes to campus.
Related Q&As |
Go Ask Alice! is not an emergency or instant response service.