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FDA Wants to Allow HIV Positive Individuals to Donate Blood


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Remember when the FDA was supposed to be a reputable and trustworthy organization?

Nope, me neither…

According to a new report, the FDA is planning on lowering their standards in regards to who is allowed to donate blood.

They are planning on rolling back previous restrictions that would have prevented anyone who had HIV from donating blood.

The FDA is caving to pressure from LGBTQ advocacy groups who feel as if they’ve been discriminated against, specifically gay and bisexual men.

Unprotected anal sex poses a much higher risk of transmitting HIV than any other form of sex.

This is a fact that even the CDC admits.

Whereas before, these such individuals used to have to abstain from sex for a year before donating blood, they now only have to for 3 months.

The FDA believes that three months is enough time to be able to detect an HIV infection.

The Wall Street Journal has the disturbing details:

Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood without abstaining from sex under guidelines being drafted by the Food and Drug Administration, people familiar with the plans said.

The change would be a departure from U.S. policy that for many years barred men who have sex with men from donating blood. The FDA policy originated in the 1980s during the AIDS epidemic, when tests for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, weren’t considered sensitive enough to protect the blood supply.

The FDA appears top be caving due to pressure from LGBTQ advocacy groups:

LGBTQ advocacy groups such as Human Rights Campaign have for years called the U.S. blood policy discriminatory and said that men who have sex with men should be allowed to donate. The American Medical Association and the American Red Cross have also called for the policy to be changed.

“I’m thrilled to see this step forward,” said North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley, who led an effort with 12 other state health leaders to call for changes to the blood donation policy. “It’s long past time for us to protect the blood supply based off what people do and not who people are.”

Daily Mail has more details:

Unprotected anal sex poses a higher risk of transmitting HIV than other forms of sexual activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

But three months is considered an adequate wait time because it gives enough time for symptoms to appear, the FDA says.

All donated blood is screened for diseases including HIV, syphilis and hepatitis among others. This has been in place since 1985.

Canada brought in a similar questionnaire this September, also asking potential donors whether they had anal sex with new sexual partners.

Not everyone is happy about this decision…

 



 

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