The Food and Drug Administration will hear testimony next week on whether it should end a three decade-old ban on blood donations from gay men.
The policy was meant to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, but gay rights activists have called it discriminatory, and leading medical groups say it is no longer warranted.
Under current federal policy, blood donations will not be accepted from a man who has had sex with another man at anytime since 1977. The policy was enacted in 1983 after AIDS had grown to epidemic proportions and a ban was deemed necessary to keep the blood supply safe.
The question of the ban will be the top item when the FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee meets Tuesday. The Health and Human Services Department’s Advisory Committee on Blood & Tissue Safety & Availability looked into the issue earlier this month. The FDA is an agency within HHS.
“FDA’s primary responsibility with regard to blood and blood products is to assure the safety of patients who receive these life-saving products,” the agency says on its website regarding the current policy.
Critics say the policy has outlived its usefulness and is no longer supported by science. The American Medical Association came out formally against it last year.
“The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science. This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone,” the AMA said at the time.
