![]() ![]() "The FDA's decision to follow science and issue new recommendations for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, who selflessly donate blood to help save lives, signals the beginning of the end of a dark and discriminatory past rooted in fear and homophobia," Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement Thursday. Above all, this is a victory of science over stigma." The FDA was considering changing the blood donation. ![]() Peter Marks, head of the FDA's CBER division that handles blood donations, said the new recommendations "represent a significant milestone for the agency and the LGBTQI+ community."Ĭhin-Hong added, "As a doctor I enthusiastically welcome this news. Under the FDAs rules, men cannot give blood if they have had sex with another man at least once since 1977. In a press release, the FDA said it has "carefully reviewed numerous data sources" that give the agency "a solid foundation to support this new policy." The FDA said it strongly believes this new recommendation will not compromise the safety of the blood supply. Current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy allows for gay and bisexual men to donate blood 3 months after their most recent sexual contact with another man if they meet all other eligibility criteria. Darien Sutton, an emergency medical physician and ABC News contributor. "As a physician I feel a sense of relief, this will likely lead to the increased supply and availability of a vital resource needed for life saving and life sustaining treatment," said Dr. In 2020, ABC News broke the story that several major blood donation organizations - including the American Red Cross, Vitalant, and OneBlood - announced that they are working together to study and provide data to the FDA to determine if eligibility based on an individual’s risk can replace the current time-based deferral system while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.MORE: Biden administration speaks out on federal blood donation policy impacting gay men amid national blood shortage ![]() Italy, Israel, and several other countries have similar requirements. Gay and bisexual men undergo individual risk assessments instead of time-based bans in countries around the world, recently including Greece and France, according to international reports. Over time, the FDA relaxed the lifetime ban, but still kept in place some limits. Restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, who are considered to be at high risk for HIV or AIDS transmission, date back to the 1980s. Originally, gay and bisexual men were completely prohibited from donating blood. In 2015, the guidance changed from a lifetime ban to a 12-month deferral, and the FDA determines the guidance used by all U.S. "Just like other individuals throughout the country, many people have sex on a regular basis, including with partners and spouses," said Sarah Warbelow, the legal director at the LGBTQ advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign.Īndrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images, FILE Some advocates, including the Human Rights Campaign, say the FDA is moving too slowly on removing the restriction, saying that it's an outright ban on the ability of people, particularly gay and bisexual men, to donate blood. The agency changed the deferral period from 12 months to three months in November 2020 as blood donations fell and hospitals faced critical shortages during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. When blood donations plummeted during the pandemic, restrictions were revised again. Yet not until 2015 was the lifetime ban on blood donation revised by the FDA to allow donation by MSM who reported being abstinent for a full year. The Food and Drug Administration bars people who have had sex with gay or bisexual men from donating blood for three months following the most recent sexual contact because of fears of HIV in the blood supply. Donated blood is routinely tested so that tainted blood is not transfused. Despite this urgent need for donations, people who have sex with gay or bisexual men are still facing restrictions on their ability to give blood. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have estimated that allowing gay men to donate blood could add as much as 615,000 pints a year to the national supply an increase of. ![]() is facing a national blood crisis, the "worst blood shortage in over a decade," the American Red Cross warns. 'It was like I was radioactive.' In an exchange that Estok recorded on his phone, the NYBC staff explained to him that they had not yet implemented the FDA's new guidelines and that the process was. ![]()
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