Democratic Senators Move to End Ban on Gay Blood Donations

[The Straight Story]

Democratic Senators Move to End Ban on Gay Blood Donations
Saturday, March 06, 2010

Insisting science has eliminated the need for sexual orientation-profiling when it comes to blood donations, 18 U.S. senators have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate the ban on homosexuals giving blood. The government imposed the ban back in 1983, at the dawn of the AIDS crisis, when officials feared tainted blood would get into the nation’s blood-bank supplies.

Seventeen Democratic senators, along with independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, wrote to the FDA arguing that modern science now allows blood banks to carefully screen all donors to prevent contaminated supplies from reaching patients. The senators called the current policy “antiquated” and pointed out that hospitals and emergency rooms are in urgent need of blood products, but are unable to accept blood from gays who wish to donate.

The American Red Cross, America’s Blood Centers and AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) reportedly have told the FDA that the ban “is medically and scientifically unwarranted.”

But some experts still believe the ban should remain in effect. In March 2006, Dr. Andrew I. Dayton told an FDA workshop that transmissions with HIV-infected blood can still occur, and the number of “bad units” would increase if the FDA alters its policy.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Democratic_Senators_Move_to_End_Ban_on_Gay_Blood_Donations_100306