Opinion :: Guest Opinions
Outdated, unnecessary ban on blood donations should be lifted by John Kerry
United States SenatorWednesday Mar 3, 2010 It’s more than a little hard for most people to believe that federal law today bans gay men from donating blood. But it’s true; in fact, any man who has had a sexual relationship with another man, even once, since 1977, is banned -- for life -- from donating blood. It’s a cruel reality that I thought warranted a close examination of the justifications.
As it turns out, not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban. The three largest blood donation organizations in our country -- the American Red Cross, America’s Blood Centers, and AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) -- all agree calling the ban "medically and scientifically unwarranted." The American Medical Association supports modifying the restriction. And this week, I was joined by more than a dozen other United States Senators in calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review and modify this discriminatory ban.
This arcane policy originated in 1983 at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. At that time, HIV was not well understood, accurate detection methods were not yet developed, and transmission was incorrectly attributed exclusively to the gay community. This was the era when the term "GRIDS" was the coin of the realm -- literally reinforcing the dangerous illusion that this was a ’gay disease’ every time the word was spoken.
But over the past 27 years, times have clearly changed. We know so much more. There is now a greater understanding of the high-risk behaviors associated with HIV contraction which is incorporated into the donor screening process. We’ve made dramatic technological improvements in HIV detection, and we’ve got mandated testing of all donated blood by two separate, highly accurate tests. A law that was once medically justifiable is today simply discrimination that needs to end.
Nothing better highlights the unjustified nature of the discrimination against men who have had sex with other men than the FDA’s own screening guidelines for other high risk sexual behaviors known for transmitting HIV. FDA guidelines dictate that if you pay a heterosexual prostitute for sex you are deferred from donating blood, but for just one year following the incident. If you have had heterosexual sex with someone you know is infected with HIV, you are deferred from donating blood for just one year. But a man who has had protected sex with a monogamous male partner, even one time 33 years ago, is barred for life from donating blood.
With the goal of keeping America’s blood supply as safe and robust as possible, we should not be turning away healthy potential donors whose blood donation could save a life. Especially at a time when hospitals and emergency rooms across the country are in constant and urgent need of blood products and with the most generous generation of blood donors -- the WWII generation -- aging without an equally likely number of young donors.
This won’t be easy, but I’m convinced we can make a change. Look at what we did with the discriminatory ban on travel and immigration for those infected with HIV. We gained the support of every major public safety organization in the country and worked to pass legislation lifting that ban. It is now time to apply the same fair and educated reevaluation to blood donation by ending the lifetime ban on donations from healthy, gay Americans.
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