Yahoo – AFP,
Jean-Louis Santini, 2 Dec 2014
 |
A US ban on
blood donations by gays could be eased after 31 years, depending
on the
decision of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee (AFP
Photo/Marion
Berard)
|
Washington
(AFP) - A US ban on blood donations by gays could be eased after 31 years,
depending on the decision of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee
that began two days of meetings Tuesday.
Current US
law bars any man who has had sex with a man -- even once since 1977 -- from
donating blood.
The
restrictions were established in 1983 when the AIDS epidemic was spreading
quickly in the gay community, sparking widespread fear about the deadly
infection, which was then poorly understood.
 |
A giant red
ribbon is affixed on the front of
the White House on World Aids Day, on
December 1, 2014 in Washington, DC (AFP
Photo/Mandel Ngan)
|
When the
17-member committee makes its recommendation Wednesday -- advice the FDA does
not have to follow but typically does -- the ban could be lifted or relaxed, or
not changed at all.
An advisory
committee to the Department of Health and Human Services recently recommended
replacing the ban with a 12-month deferral period for men who have had sex with
men in that time.
In that
case, sexually active gay men would still be prohibited from donating blood,
but those who have not engaged in sex with other men in the past year would be
allowed to donate.
Jason
Cianciotta, director of public policy at Gay Men's Health Crisis, said such
steps would not eliminate the stigma or discrimination associated with the ban
on gays.
"While
the proposed change from a lifetime ban to a 12-month deferral is a step forward,
it does not go far enough," he said during the public comment portion of
the FDA advisory meeting near the US capital on Tuesday.
"Any
deferral based on a sexual orientation label -- MSM (men who have sex with
men), gay or bisexual -- still perpetuates the harmful and unscientific notion
that HIV is transmitted because of who you are rather than what you do."
He also
described a policy requiring 12 months of abstinence as a "de facto
lifetime ban" for most gay and bisexual men.
"We
advocate for a system that screens all donors, gay or straight, for high-risk
practices that could lead to HIV infection," he said.
Critics
cite risks
However,
critics called on the panel to reject any move that could increase the risk of
HIV in the blood supply.
"I
urge you to oppose any change," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for
policy studies at the Family Research Council, a conservative group.
"Unless
it can be scientifically proven that a revised policy would result in no
increase in risk to the blood supply. Even a small increase in risk is
unacceptable," he told the committee.
 |
Members of
the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus wave gay pride flags
while singing in San
Francisco, California, June 17, 2008 (AFP Photo)
|
"Let
us not forget the dramatic magnitude of the increased HIV risk in this
population."
US lags
behind
Glenn
Cohen, a law professor at Harvard University, argued in a recent editorial in
the Journal of the American Medical Association that the United States was
lagging behind other developed nations like Japan, Britain and Australia, which
allow for gay blood donations after a 12-month period of sexual abstinence.
South
Africa requires a similar period of abstinence for potential blood donors,
regardless of their sexual orientation.
Even though
there is a short window of time right after HIV infection when tests may not
come back positive, scientists tend to agree that a period of one year is
largely sufficient to assure that a person was not infected following potential
exposure.
A 2010
study by the University of California, Los Angeles estimated that a complete
end to the ban on gay blood donations in the United States would raise the
total amount of blood collected just two to four percent.
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