Tuesday, July 12, 2005
I agree with the students
Student Activists Rally to Fight Ban on Gay Blood Donation
07.11.05 By Ross von Metzke
A number of New England universities, spearheaded by the University of Maine at Orono, have joined forces to protest a more than decade long ban on blood donation by men who have had sex with men.
Students argue that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV positive blood from contaminating the nation's blood supply, implies that gay men are inherently sick and that it prevents healthy people from donating.
For years, gay rights advocates have rallied against the ban, but occasional protests and talks with the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have brought no change.
Now, college students are taking a new approach. Instead of pressuring the FDA directly, they are targeting the American Red Cross, which is the largest and highest-profile blood collector in the United States.
Unlike America's Blood Centers, which represents the non-Red Cross blood banks that collect most of the nation's blood, the Red Cross publicly supports the policy. Activists say that if they can get the Red Cross to change its stance, the FDA will follow.
College students and gay rights advocates contend that the policy is outdated, ineffective and homophobic.
All blood is tested before use, according to the FDA, and enforcement of the policy depends solely on whether potential male donors cop to having had sex with other men on a pre-donation survey. Most important, the activists say, the danger of HIV contamination comes from people who practice unsafe sex, regardless of the donor's sexual orientation.
The new round of protests began in May at the University of Maine at Orono, where the student government banned the Red Cross from conducting blood drives on campus. It opened the campus only to a blood collection company that supported changing the FDA rule.
The disputed policy dates to 1990, when the FDA codified a rule banning blood donations from any man who had had sex with another man since 1977. The policy started as a guideline in 1983, before blood could be tested for HIV. It has remained in place, officials say, because of concern over HIV infection among MSM’s.
The FDA says allowing men in that category to donate would bring so much HIV positive blood into the system that even rare errors could allow infected blood to slip through safeguards. Fourteen million units of blood are donated and processed in the United States every year.
At an FDA hearing in 2000, the last time the agency reviewed its policy, the Red Cross testified in favor of keeping what the industry calls a "lifetime deferral" for men who have had sex with men. The FDA's panel of specialists voted, 7 to 6, to maintain the ban.
© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved
Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.
-- Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) American Publisher ¶ 7/12/2005 01:39:00 PM
07.11.05 By Ross von Metzke
A number of New England universities, spearheaded by the University of Maine at Orono, have joined forces to protest a more than decade long ban on blood donation by men who have had sex with men.
Students argue that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV positive blood from contaminating the nation's blood supply, implies that gay men are inherently sick and that it prevents healthy people from donating.
For years, gay rights advocates have rallied against the ban, but occasional protests and talks with the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have brought no change.
Now, college students are taking a new approach. Instead of pressuring the FDA directly, they are targeting the American Red Cross, which is the largest and highest-profile blood collector in the United States.
Unlike America's Blood Centers, which represents the non-Red Cross blood banks that collect most of the nation's blood, the Red Cross publicly supports the policy. Activists say that if they can get the Red Cross to change its stance, the FDA will follow.
College students and gay rights advocates contend that the policy is outdated, ineffective and homophobic.
All blood is tested before use, according to the FDA, and enforcement of the policy depends solely on whether potential male donors cop to having had sex with other men on a pre-donation survey. Most important, the activists say, the danger of HIV contamination comes from people who practice unsafe sex, regardless of the donor's sexual orientation.
The new round of protests began in May at the University of Maine at Orono, where the student government banned the Red Cross from conducting blood drives on campus. It opened the campus only to a blood collection company that supported changing the FDA rule.
The disputed policy dates to 1990, when the FDA codified a rule banning blood donations from any man who had had sex with another man since 1977. The policy started as a guideline in 1983, before blood could be tested for HIV. It has remained in place, officials say, because of concern over HIV infection among MSM’s.
The FDA says allowing men in that category to donate would bring so much HIV positive blood into the system that even rare errors could allow infected blood to slip through safeguards. Fourteen million units of blood are donated and processed in the United States every year.
At an FDA hearing in 2000, the last time the agency reviewed its policy, the Red Cross testified in favor of keeping what the industry calls a "lifetime deferral" for men who have had sex with men. The FDA's panel of specialists voted, 7 to 6, to maintain the ban.
© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved
Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.
-- Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) American Publisher ¶ 7/12/2005 01:39:00 PM
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