FDA Lifts 32-Year Ban on Gay, Bisexual men Blood Donations

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For decades, gay and bisexual men have been banished from blood donations for fear that they may sully the blood supply as they are considered as one of the high-risk groups when it comes to infection from HIV virus, that may cause AIDS, and also other viruses like hepatitis B and C.

But, the federal health officials are now taking a softer stand on the issue and made a major revision in their policy allowing the gay and bisexual men to donate blood as long as they have refrained from sex with other men for a year, wrote NBC News.

"As part of today's finalized blood donor deferral guidance, the FDA is changing its recommendation that men who have sex with men (MSM) be indefinitely deferred—a policy that has been in place for approximately 30 years - to 12 months since the last sexual contact with another man," FDA wrote in a press release.

"The FDA examined a variety of recent studies, epidemiologic data, and shared experiences from other countries that have made recent MSM deferral policy changes." The new policy is part of FDA's duty to ensure that there will be a high level of blood product safety for people whose lives depend on it, according to FDA's Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff, M.D.

Some advocates, however, are still not happy about the new policy. "It perpetuates the stigma that HIV is a gay disease," says Kelsey Louie, who heads Gay Men's Health Crisis, an advocacy group, notes NPR.org.

But, while some of these activists have referred to the new policy as discriminatory, U.S., in fact, is not the only country which has imposed a tough stand on the matter. Other countries, such as the UK with the exception of the Northern Ireland, Japan and Australia have also implemented the same one-year ban for those men who have had sex with other men, BBC reported.

The United States' neighboring country from the north, Canada, has its more stringent policy with its five-year ban. Meanwhile, for countries like Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain, no such ban is in place so far, but some have come up with tighter screening measures.

"The gay community and many people view blood donation as a civil right. And I don't think it is," said Dr. Kenrad Nelson, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served as a consultant for the FDA with regard to the policy.

He cited other examples of groups of people, such as those who have made a visit to countries where there is a great risk of contracting malaria, that were also given a one-year ban. Prostitutes and those who have had sex with them, as well as, those who have used intravenous drugs in the past 12 months are also not allowed in blood donations.