Red Cross ends blood-donation restrictions that singled out gay and bisexual men
Source: CNBC
The American Red Cross is now allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions that specifically single out a person’s sexual orientation or gender, the nonprofit group said Monday. The Red Cross is implementing new Food and Drug Administration screening guidelines that apply to all potential donors and are based on an individual risk assessment.
The Red Cross provides about 40% of the nation’s blood supply. Under the new FDA guidelines, men in monogamous sexual relationships with other men are eligible to donate as long as they meet other screening criteria. Previously, men who had sex with men had to remain abstinent for three months before donating blood.
The three-month waiting period now applies to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, who has had sex with a new partner or multiple people and has also had anal sex. The Red Cross said in a statement that the organization understands the waiting period based on a history of anal sex appears to unfairly target gay and bisexual men.
The nonprofit group said it is working with the FDA to make the blood-donation guidelines more inclusive. The FDA in May dropped a nearly 40-year policy that had singled out men who have sex with men as high risk to the blood supply over concerns about HIV transmission.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/07/red-cross-ends-blood-donation-rules-singling-out-gay-and-bisexual-men.html
Link to finalized FDA Rules - https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USFDA/bulletins/359eabd
= new reply since forum marked as read
Specifically here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3025207
Guidance for Industry
May 2022
Download the final Guidance Document | Read the Federal Register Notice
Final Level 2 Guidance
Docket Number: FDA-2012-D-0307
Issued by: Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
We, FDA, are issuing this guidance document to provide you, blood establishments that collect blood and blood components, with recommendations intended to reduce the possible risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) by blood and blood components. The recommendations in this guidance apply to the collection of Whole Blood and blood components intended for transfusion or for use in further manufacturing, including Source Plasma.
This guidance supersedes the guidance of the same title dated April 2020 and updated August 2020 (2020 guidance). We removed the recommendations to defer indefinitely blood donors for: 1) geographic risk of possible exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy for time spent in the United Kingdom (U.K.) from 1980-1996 and for time spent in France and Ireland from 1980-2001, and 2) receipt of a blood transfusion in the U.K., France, and Ireland from 1980-present. We also provide recommendations for requalification of individuals previously deferred for these geographic risk factors, provided they meet all other eligibility requirements.
https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/recommendations-reduce-possible-risk-transmission-creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-and-variant-creutzfeldt
As I mentioned back then, the media was so focused on "Democrats in Disarray®", "Democrats will be getting a shellacking®", "Red Tsunami®", then it was buried. This is the final guidance.
Why can I never remember that? I'm a medical provider! This is embarrassing!
the media chose not to highlight it. When I did the OPs on the current blood donation revisions, I found out that this one had been done last year.
The one thing that they mention with this (and with the current OP policies) is that none of these guidelines are "mandatory as a law" but are basically saying "we lift the ban" and it's up to the donation centers to go ahead and start accepting donors who fall under those categories, where the agency is providing recommendations/guidance for how they can do that if they choose.
