The Food and Drug Administration is outlining its plan to end the nation’s lifetime ban of blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a policy in place for 32 years that many medical groups and gay activists say is “no longer justified.”
The FDA released proposed guidelines on Tuesday, May 12 for screening blood donors at the increased risk of carrying HIV. Under the proposal, the current blanket ban on donations from gay men would be replaced with policy-barring donations from men who have had sex with another man in the last year.
The White House previously announced the policy shift in December. If finalized, the new measure would put the US in line with other countries that enforce a one-year federal period on donations from sexually active gay men, including Australia, the UK, and Japan.
Gay activists, however, continued to question whether requiring a year of celibacy from gay men amounts to a significant policy shift.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest US gay rights advocate group, said the FDA’s plan was a step in the right direction, but that it would continue to stigmatize gay and bisexual men.
“This policy prevents men from donating life-saving blood-based solely on their sexual orientation rather than actual risk to the blood supply,” said David Stacy, the group’s government affairs director, in a statement.
Medical groups like the American Medical Association have previously said that the lifetime ban is no longer supported by science, given advances in HIV testing. In 2006, the American Association of Blood Banks, America’s Blood Centers, and the Red Cross called the ban “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”
All US blood donations are screened for HIV, human immunodeficiency virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. But there is roughly a 10-day window between initial infection and when the virus can be detected in the bloodstream.
The American Red Cross estimates the risk of getting an HIV-positive blood donation is 1 in 1.5 million in the US, which collects about 15.7 million blood donations each year.
The FDA concluded that moving to a one-year deferral period would not compromise the safety of the US blood supply, based on data from Australia and other international sources.
(With reports from The Associated Press, CBS News)
