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Ban on gay blood donors is outdated


  3. jcwelker
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Giving blood is not a right.

The overriding responsibility of blood collection and distribution agencies is not to ensure all Canadians are allowed to join in this altruistic act, but to ensure the safety of blood and blood products for recipients.

To do so, agencies such as Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec must not focus on concerns about rights. Instead they must discriminate - in the true sense of the word.

Héma-Québec and CBS can and must exclude individuals (and sometimes entire groups) from donating to protect the integrity of the blood supply.

At the same time, these agencies must strive to ensure there is an adequate supply of blood, which saves the lives of thousands upon thousands of people each year.

This is not an easy balancing act, particularly in a country such as Canada, where the tainted blood tragedy has left us acutely sensitive to safety concerns.

There are, and always will be, restrictions on blood donors. Currently in Canada, you can't donate blood if you are under the age of 17 or over the age of 71, if you weigh less than 110 pounds (50 kilograms), if you have a cold or the flu, or if you've had a tattoo or piercing in the past six months.

There are also "indefinite deferrals" - or lifetime bans, if you prefer - on members of certain groups. These include diabetics who use insulin and people who have lived in African countries such as Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria, where rates of HIV-AIDS are exceedingly high.

Because of fears of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human version of mad cow), CBS excludes from blood donation anyone who has spent three months or more in Britain or France between 1980 and 1996. (Héma-Québec puts the British time limit at one month.)

Anyone who has used intravenous drugs or who has taken money for sex cannot give blood. Also facing a lifetime ban from blood donation is any man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977.
jcwelker

9 responses // Ban on gay blood donors is outdated

  • Heck, half my acquaintances take money for sex. How would CBS know who does and who doesn't?
    Wouldn't simple tests take care of all these questions?
    Neghie
  • Since they were once taking flak for having anything at all tainting the blood supply, they tend to err on the side of caution now.

    I was refused the opportunity to donate blood simply because I was stationed in England in 1981 because of the suspicion that my blood might have the possibility of carrying Mad Cow Disease.

    It didn't make any difference that there wasn't any evidence that I even had ever eaten any of the tainted meat or that it could still be in my blood after 27 years.

    It was part of the screening process to be on the safe side that nothing would comtaminate the blood supply so I doubt if they aren't taking an even more outdated and remote possibility out of the process that they will get to the gay blood issue before that.
    Argon18
  • "Because of fears of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human version of mad cow), CBS excludes from blood donation anyone who has spent three months or more in Britain or France between 1980 and 1996."

    What about people who have spent three or more months there but are vegetarian or vegans?
    Vierotchka
  • if you need blood you need blood why does it matter if it a gay person or not. That Gay person could hide that fact and still give blood. I mean it happens at my school all the time the red cross comes
    muckraker
  • I refuse to donate blood once I learned they sell it at top dollar to patients and hospitals. I donate it for free and they'll make upwards of $500 a pint around here. that's wrong. I've boycotted them ever since
    diode
  • also, i wouldn't want to wake up from a surgery and find out i caught something because they didn't catch dirty blood from a donor with hiv or hep c. fine by me if they discriminate.
    diode
  • The word "gay" is being used rather loosely here. The similar ban in the US disallows any man who has had sex with another man even once since 1976- a lot of guys who call themselves straight or bisexual could fall into that category. And why don't they ban all women who have had sex with a man who has had sex with a man since 1976? Because if everyone told the truth there would be very few people eligible to give blood at the end of the day. I think the ban is generated by prejudice more than scientific evidence. It is cheap and easy to test all of this blood, and they do it to every pint they collect from donors; the ban on these men only serves to stigmatize them.
    belgrade18
  • So are they banning gay men from donating blood because they think they have a higher risk of getting AIDS/HIV tainted blood or are they trying to safeguard people from gay cuddies? Diode where did you hear that? I tried to google the price of a pint of blood but I couldn’t find anything from any of the organizations that conduct blood drives. Fill me in or make a pod that would be a good story.
    Ricky84
  • this is very outdated! if anyone can get HIV and AIDs why discriminate a small group? don't they check all the blood anyways? Are they really giving you unchecked blood at the hospital?
    if they lift this ban, donations will go way up. isn't that the whole point?
    blue_blooded

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