U.S. FDA lifts blood donor ban on gay men

But homosexual males still can’t donate if they had sex within previous year

WASHINGTON— Federal health officials are lifting the nation’s 32-yearold lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, but major restrictions will continue to limit who can donate.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is replacing the lifetime ban with a new policy barring donations from men who have had sex with a man in the previous year. While the one-year ban has been criticized by activists it matches policies in other countries, including Australia, Japan and the U.K.

The Canadian Blood Services agency bans donations from gay men who have had sex with another man in the last five years, even if they have engaged in low-risk activity. The policy dates back to the 1980s, when scientific understanding of HIV was much more limited. Gay rights activists said the new policy is a “step in the right direction,” but falls short.

“It continues to stigmatize gay and bisexual men,” said David Stacy, of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay rights group. “It simply cannot be justified in light of current scientific research and updated blood screening technology.”

Monday’s policy shift was first proposed in late 2014 and follows years of lobbying by medical groups and gay rights groups, who said the previous ban was outdated and perpetuated negative stereotypes.

Dr. Peter Marks of the FDA said the change is “backed by sound scientific evidence” and will “continue to protect our blood supply.”

The FDA considered eliminating all restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, but concluded that would increase the transmission of HIV through the blood supply by 400 per cent.

“An increase of that magnitude is not acceptable,” Marks told reporters.

The lifetime ban was put in place during the early years of the AIDS crisis and was intended to protect the blood supply from what was a then little-understood disease.

The FDA concluded that moving to a one-year abstinence requirement would not change the safety of U.S. blood donations, based primarily on data from Australia. That country has had a one-year rule for active gay and bisexual men for over 10 years.

FDA officials said there are no comparable data using shorter restriction periods. “Right now there are really no large, major countries with shorter intervals than one year,” Marks said during a teleconference.