End Ban on Gay Blood Donors: U.S. Senators
03/05/2010
The U.S. government should no longer impose a lifetime ban on blood donations from any man who has had gay sex since 1977, 18 senators said in a letter sent Thursday to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
"Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Associated Press reported. The other senators include 16 Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In their letter, the lawmakers said there have been major scientific changes since the ban was established in 1983 at the start of the AIDS epidemic. For example, donated blood is now subjected to two different, highly accurate tests that virtually eliminate the risk of tainted blood making it into the nation's blood supply.
Hospitals and emergency rooms urgently need blood products, but "healthy blood donors are turned away every day due to an antiquated policy and our blood supply is not necessarily any safer for it," said the senators' letter, the AP reported.
However, an FDA statement said that while the agency "appreciates concerns about perceived discrimination, our decision to maintain the deferral policy is based on current science and data and does not give weight to a donor's sexual orientation."
