FDA Schedules Hearing On Gay Blood Donor Ban

There comes news about the possibility that the lifetime ban on men who have had sex with men since 1977 from donating blood may soon be reconsidered.

From the (recently resurrected Washington Blade):

A notice published Thursday states the Department of Health & Human Services has scheduled a meeting next month of the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety & Availability to discuss the issue. The committee is charged with providing recommendations to HHS on blood supply and blood products.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is set to take place at the Universities of Shady Grove in Rockville, Md. Discussion is scheduled over the course of two days — from June 10 to June 11. The meetings on both days are set for 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.

FDA instituted the blood donor ban in 1983 in response to the AIDS crisis. The policy prohibits any man who’s had sex with another man since 1977 — even once — from donating blood. At the time, the policy was deemed necessary because gay and bisexual have a higher rate of HIV/AIDS infection.

LGBT rights supporters have been seeking to overturn the ban on the grounds that it unfairly targets gay and bisexual men and that testing procedures for HIV/AIDS have improved significantly since 1983.

According to the Federal Register notice, the committee will consider “the most important factors (e.g. societal, scientific, and economic) to consider in making a policy change” as well as whether current scientific information is sufficient to support ending the policy and what studies and safety measures are needed before a change takes place.

MadProfessah has been following the story of the "gay blood ban" for quite awhile, and these latest steps are the most movements since 2007's review of the policy which left the ban intact.

Not all LGBT rights supporters are in favor of a complete lifting of the ban, as evidenced by a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

The simple fact is that it is a "blood libel" to claim that any man who has had sex with a man since 1977 is completely ineligible from donating blood.