February 14, 2006
As most of you probably know, any man who has had sex with another man, even just once in the past twenty years, is prohibited from donating blood under current FDA guidelines. While the policy may have made since at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is no longer scientifically justified.
The FDA has scheduled a public workshop to discuss this and other "Behavior Based Blood Donation Deferrals". It's a sign that the FDA might just be ready to consider changing these guidelines. The meeting is scheduled for March 8th in Bethesda MD. If you can't attend you can still make sure your voice is heard by submitting comments online or via snail-mail.
For more details check out this this article which I just posted on my brand new LGBTI Health & Wellness Website, www.outhealth.org.
Posted by David at February 14, 2006 06:12 PM
Help End Discriminatory Blood Donation Exclusion Criteria
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Currently, the Association of American Blood Banks (AABB), the American Red Cross and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) use blood donation screening guidelines that exclude many people who could secure the nation's blood supply.
Since 1983, the FDA has required blood banks to reject blood donations by men who answered "yes" to the donor-screening question, "have you ever had sex with another man, even one time, since 1977?" Incredibly, this policy remains in effect, unnecessarily disqualifying many potential donors of healthy blood....times have changed. Our ability to screen blood products has changed along with our society's accepted sexual behaviors, partners, and means for protection against sexually transmissible diseases (stds). Help end the inequality, help everyone give the gift of blood.
It is time to "revise the blood donation screening guidelines in order to: reflect equivalent standards of evaluating homosexual and heterosexual sex risks with regards to safety of blood donations; and allow HIV-negative persons with low-risk behaviors, regardless of sexual orientation, the opportunity to fully exercise the civic responsibility of donating blood." *From Resolution: 096-97-111 of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), Author: Marj Plumb
In recent years (1996-2001), the students and staff at the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities Campus took a strong position to support these changes with letters, resolutions, and testimony. Now it is your turn to demand our elected government officials to fight for equality in blood donation eligibility. Please help make it safe and easy for people to donate blood, especially in times of tragedy. Please help everyone give the life-saving gift of blood.
PS: If any student groups want a copy of the U of MN resolution passed regarding Blood Donation Exclusion Criteria, please contact me at atempel at visi dot com.
Hello David,
I was wondering what all you think that our organization could do? As you can see we have been working on scheduling a national demonstration on this very issue on April 5, 2006. Check out our website and please get back to me with what you think our group can do.
All the best,
Shawn Werner
Mandy,
you rock. As always ; )
Shawn,
I'm really glad that you posted here! I hadn't seen your website before, but I'm glad to know it exists. Here are some suggestions for things you might want to do.
1. Attend the meeting, and if you can't attend the meeting, DEFINITELY submit written comments. These folks need to hear from you.
2. Familiarize yourself with some of the issues they are going to be talking about the meeting, (like the different kinds of blood tests) so you can be informed. Prepare fact sheets so you can easily share the information with others. I have a friend at the FDA (whose name I will send you privately) who should be able to answer any questions you have.
3. ASK the local & national LGBTI groups that you are a member of to represent your interests at this meeting. I have already sent e-mails to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (www.glma.org) and the National Coalition for LGBT Health (www.lgbthealth.net). We need to encourage these organizations as well as others (HRC?, National Association of LGBT Community Centers? The Task Force?) to speak up for us at this meeting. These groups represent US so it's important to ask them to work on issues that we care about.
4. Talk about this issue with your local Red Cross Chapter, or whatever group deals with blood donation where you live, and ask THEM to submit comments.
5. Get the word out to the general community. Your group may want to consider submitting op-eds or providing information to the press. You may want to consider sending out a press release prior to the event. Since there is finally 'something' happening around this issue, the press is going to be more interested in what you have to say.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
David Mariner
