Canada
Allow gay men to donate blood, researchers say
The policy banning gay men from donating blood in Canada is outdated and discriminatory, according to a group of AIDS researchers who argue that changing it would be beneficial to the whole blood system.
In an article published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill AIDS Centre at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, Norbert Gilmore, another prominent AIDS researcher at the centre, Talia Shuldiner and Karine Dahl, say the refusal to accept donated blood from men who have had sex with men made sense when the policy was introduced in 1983, but not anymore.
"Here we are 27 years later still stuck with policies that are antiquated. And in our view these are policies that are not only discriminatory in regard to gay men but they are also policies that do not serve the Canadian blood system well because they result in far fewer blood donations than we would otherwise be able to count on," Mr. Wainberg said in an interview.
Canadian Blood Services says the rationale for the policy is that the prevalence of HIV is higher among gay men than in the heterosexual population. On its website, the agency says it tests all units of blood but there is a "window period" after initial infection when the virus cannot be detected.
"We continually review our policies and procedures in the face of changing science and technology and, as such, we are conducting a risk assessment of this issue," the agency says.
But Mr. Wainberg says the science is clear and it's time Canada follow the lead of other countries that have changed their policies regarding donations from men who have had sex with men.
Mr. Wainberg called Canada's policy "hypocritical" because there are hardly any restrictions on heterosexual donors, regardless of their level of sexual promiscuity.
Gay men are prevented from donating blood even if they are in a long-term monogamous relationship whereas donors who have had heterosexual unprotected sex with multiple partners are not necessarily banned from giving blood.
(Published by National Post – May 25, 2010)