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H.H.S. Might Reconsider Revising Its Archaic Ban On Gay Blood If You Give It At Least 2 Years... |
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Written by Jonathan Higbee |
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
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| Tags: department of health and human services, fda, blood, gay, ban, discrimination, revise, policy, change, donation |
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it might entertain ending its outdated and controversial discrimination of gay men. But not for at least two years.
The ban goes back to 1983, when the FDA issued a new blood donation requirement during the height of the AIDS epidemic reading:
"You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected with HIV. You are at risk for getting infected if you ... are a male who has had sexual contact [oral or anal sex] with another male, even once, since 1977..."
Yesterday, sparked by an inquiry from Sen. John Kerry, the H.H.S. reported that the earliest a review of its anti-gay policy could come up for discussion would be 2013. The last review of its discrimination occurred, unsuccessfully, in June 2010.
Concludes the H.H.S. in a response to Sen. Kerry's inquiry, "The Department has worked to develop a plan that will yield scientific data that are currently needed to re-evaluate the current policy based on the ACBSA recommendations. When these studies are complete, the Department is committed to a full evidence-based evaluation of the policy. If the data indicate that a change is possible while protecting the blood supply, we will consider a change to the policy."
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