Gay men who have not had sex with another man in 12 months will be allowed to donate blood in parts of the UK for the first time since a ban was put in place in the 1980s in response to the spread of AIDS and HIV, the UK Department of Health announced Thursday.
Blood banks in England, Scotland and Wales have said they will allow gay men to begin giving blood if they qualify under new rules beginning on November 7. Northern Ireland is expected to announce a decision on whether they too will lift the ban soon. (The UK is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
"Currently, men who have ever had oral or anal sex with another man, even if a condom was used, are permanently excluded from blood donation in the UK," UK National Health Services Blood and Transport said on their website. "The change means that in future only men who have had anal or oral sex with another man in the past 12 months, with or without a condom, will be asked not to donate blood. Men whose last sexual contact with another man was more than 12 months ago will be able to donate, subject to meeting the other donor selection criteria."
The decision follows a review of the ban by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) who studied the latest details on relevant sexual contact in relation to the safety of donating blood and completed a full review of review of overall blood donor selection criteria that is related to sexual behavior. The committee looked at the risk of infection being transmitted in blood as well as improvements in testing donated blood for diseases before reaching their conclusion to change the guidelines.
The UK Department of Health said the review found "evidence no longer supported the permanent exclusion of men who have had sex with men.
"With that change, the criteria for gay men falls in line with other specific groups that are 'deferred' from giving blood for 12 months since the time of a sexual encounter that is considered to carry heightened infection risks. That group includes whose who have had sex with anyone who has injected themselves with drugs, those who have slept with a prostitute or those who have slept with a man who has slept with another man," NHS Blood and Transport said.
“NHS Blood and Transplant’s priority as a blood service is to provide a safe and sufficient supply of blood for patients," Dr. Lorna Williamson, the Medical and Research Direct of NHS Blood and Transplant said in a statement. "We welcome this review and its conclusions. It gives us an opportunity to broaden our donor acceptance on the basis of the latest scientific evidence. “It is essential that our donor selection rules are based on good evidence to maintain their credibility with donors, and this change gives us an updated policy that is proportionate to the current risk.
“The SaBTO review concluded that the safety of the blood supply would not be affected by the change and we would like to reassure patients receiving transfusions that the blood supply is as safe as it reasonably can be and amongst the safest in the world. There has been no documented transmission of a blood-borne virus in the UK since 2005, with no HIV transmission since 2002.”
NHS Blood and Transplant said on their website that they know there is frustration that people are treated as groups when it comes to blood donation, but that it is necessary for safety to treat groups that may have larger risks of infections in blood with special care.
"The Blood Services are therefore required to follow deferral rules that estimate the statistical risk of certain groups based on behavior," they said. "We are sorry for any inadvertent offense this may cause."
The move comes as global perspectives are beginning to change and countries are re-examining their rules for blood donation. England, Scotland and Wales will join Australia Sweden and Japan in requiring a one-year gap between sexual intercourse between two men before they are eligible to give blood. South African has introduced a six-month gap between sexual intercourse between two males and their donation of blood. The United States examined lifting the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood in 2010 but the ban was upheld by a federal committee.
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"The TRUTH shall set you free" said Jesus. Being married with children does not set you free, Mary. Get it?
@Michelle. I noticed that you didn't even know the actual infection rates of lezbians, nor the actual death rates of. Who will believe you? If you knew, you would have posted them. But you didn't.
So...it's ok to get a blood transfusion from a lesbian? LMAO is it because they're afraid that gay blood will turn straight men into gay? if so, I guess they don't mind lesbians? I thought the medical field was scientific not ignorant....maybe they just based this on statistics of gay men having HIV/AIDS and it makes their jobs easier just to ban them forever, plus they'll less likely get sued if they give infected blood to someone who doesn't have HIV/AIDS?
Maybe in 1000 years the USA will catch up to this point of social enlightenment.
People shouldn't be discriminated against, but my concern is that this is still a high risk population. The latency period of HIV also makes testing for it difficult.. e.i. it takes weeks of months to show up. If infections rates are consistent with other populations they should be allowed to contribute. If not, I dont see any reason to complain about the exclusion of blood from this segment of the population. I'd rather miinimze the risk of this lifet hreatening virus at the expense of someone's feelings.
Once again "political correctness" rears it´s ugly head ! With lemmimng like precision the brits are trying to kill as many
of their own citizens as possible . Not unlike allowing more muslims into their country .
Islam is actually peaceful. The Islamic extremists are not unlike the KKK, the Christian extremists-not well liked by those with a functioning brain. Feel the love, guys!
How,do you know the bloods,been screen or not?There,is always a chance it might,be tainted one way or the other.No,way would I,give blood,knowing it could be tainted,by Gay people. JoAnn Bartholomew
"Positive results from this lifestyle" being entirely subjective, please tell me what proof you have that gay relationships are less "positive" than straight relationships. Also, you don't know God's intended purpose or plan beyond what it is for your own life, so please stop trying to speak for God. As a human being, you couldn't possibly understand God's plan, especially as far as the relationships of other people are concerned.
LOL...what "data proves it"? Just because you made up some kind of data doesn't make it true.
But watch, I can do it too: from the best I can tell, the data proves you're a moron.
Carlton, you've been reading too many anti-gay hate cults' websites. None of what you claim is true.
Jason, there's irrefutable evidence supporting the data in your example that he's a moron. You'll have to try harder to make something up.
Heck... let's create white, anglo-saxon, protestant,straight ONLY hospitals, grocery stores, schools, fire depts and trash collection while we're at it!
Very real reasons pimpson just like the very real reasons I have? Highest drug use rate, so they'll probably be stealing needles and medications. Race with the largest infection rate of HIV and AIDS. Largest consumer of fried chicken which according to my god is bondage and deserving of an eternity of burning in hell.
The AIDS rates are gays, it doesn't matter what race they are when they cross the line to gay.. Wanna fail again? lol
The facts are there are other diseases out there that doctors can not detect with blood Transfusions. People need to look for alternatives to Blood Transfusions!
It's a 60/40 split. I'd rather be safe and ban all 100% from my hospital.