Gay men still banned from giving blood
November 4th, 2008
An appeal which would allow gay men in Scotland to give blood has been rejected. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) told the Scottish Parliament petitions committee that the number of gay men with HIV is rising, and banning all gay men from donating was therefore the only safe option.
The service said 86% of all new HIV infections occurring last year in Scotland were in gay men.
A spokesman for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Network said: “The blanket ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood is an outdated policy that was put in place decades ago when people believed Aids was an exclusively gay disease.
“We now know that this is far from the case. There is no clinical reason for the blanket ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood. It is a policy from a bygone era, which unfairly discriminates.
“The SNBTS should instead focus on all donors’ unsafe sexual practices, rather than single out gay and bisexual men.”
The Blood Transfusion Service’s UK-wide policy permanently bans men who have had sex with other men donating blood. In comparison, heterosexual people who engage in risky behaviour, such as having sex with a prostitute or taking drugs intravenously are banned for one year.
Alhough all blood donations are tested, some early stage infections are not always picked up.
Medical evidence presented during a court case in Australia earlier in 2008 showed that allowing men who practice safe sex with other men to donate blood would result in only one HIV-positive donation slipping through every 5,769 years.
There is a severe shortage of blood donations in the UK. One in 100 people who receive blood that is more than 14 days old will die. 13% of blood offered by the Red Cross is older than 14 days.
Italy, Spain and France have all lifted bans on gay men giving blood.
[via The BBC, The Independent]
comments
No one has left any comments so far. Use the form below to make one.