The FDA reaffirmed on May 23 its policy on blood donations that ban for life donations by any man who has ever had sex with another man ( MSM ) .
The agency acknowledged that tests to detect HIV in blood samples have improved dramatically since the policy was put in place in 1985, but said there is still a risk, however small, that a tainted donation might slip through. However, it did not take the next logical step, that of banning donations from all persons but virgins.
The decision was particularly disappointing because the American Red Cross and the America's Blood Centers, which together process about 95 percent of all blood donated in the US, had urged that the lifetime ban on MSM be scaled back to what it is for heterosexuals, a monogamous sexual relationship for 12 months prior to donation.
They testified before the FDA that the ban 'is medically and scientifically unwarranted…it does not appear rational to broadly differentiate sexual transmission via male-to-male sexual activity from that of heterosexual activity on scientific grounds.'
'I am disappointed, I must confess,' said Celso Bianco, executive vice president of America's Blood Centers. He has led the fight to change the policy for many years.
'We agree with the FDA that the first priority must be to ensure a safe blood supply,' said Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. 'But we should all be concerned when the FDA makes important decisions that are not firmly based in science.'
'If a man has high-risk sex with a woman, he's allowed back into the [ donation ] pool after 12 months, but if he has safe sex with another man, he's banned for life. This isn't about science; it's about preconceptions about gay and bisexual men.'
Ginsberg said, 'Rational blood donation guidelines need to be founded upon the best evidence-based science and the behavior of individuals, not upon archaic data and preconceptions about groups of people. The FDA's current guidelines imply that gay men are the primary agents for the spread of HIV, while giving heterosexuals a false sense of security about their sexual behavior and responsibility. These are two very dangerous messages for the FDA to be reinforcing,'
Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese called the decision 'a commitment to prejudice over science. Our nation's leading blood services organizations agree that there is no rational justification for treating gay and bisexual men different than straight men. … There is no medical or scientific rationale for this discriminatory policy.'