Gay Men Can Donate Blood If They Abstain From Sex for 1 Year, Says FDA in New Policy Lifting Lifetime Ban
The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it's easing restrictions on gay men donating blood, reversing a policy enacted during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic decades earlier.
In a statement released Tuesday, the FDA said easing the ban came after several years of research into the matter.
"Following this review, and taking into account the recommendations of advisory committees to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA, the agency will take the necessary steps to recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for men who have sex with men from indefinite deferral to one year since the last sexual contact," stated the FDA.
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"The FDA intends to issue a draft guidance recommending this proposed change in policy in 2015, which will also include an opportunity for public comment."
In 1983, the FDA established a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who had had sexual intercourse with other men.
The ban came in response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic, as many were contracting the disease via blood transfusions from blood donated by HIV-positive individuals.
A notable example was professional African-American tennis player Arthur Ashe, who contracted the AIDS virus via a blood transfusion.
"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," reported The New York Times.
"Restrictions on donors were written when HIV testing was slower and less refined. Today, some tests can detect the virus in blood as little as nine days after infection."
The United States is not the only country that has eased past bans on gay men donating blood. In May 2013, Canadian Blood Services announced that it would allow gay men to donate blood under the condition that they have refrained from having sex with other men for at least five years.
The FDA's recent announcement hasn't been without its critics, as the conservative group the Family Research Council expressed concern over the move.
Peter Sprigg, FRC senior fellow for policy studies, argued on Dec. 2 at the the FDA's Blood Products Advisory Committee that such a move was wrong.
"Research presented to the committee confirmed the dramatically elevated risk of HIV infection among men who have sex with men — a risk 62 times higher than in the general public," said Sprigg. "This risk certainly justifies the highest level of vigilance, and political and social concerns must not be allowed to trump the public health."
