Red Cross ends blood donation restrictions that singled out gay and bisexual men

The American Red Cross is present allowing cheery and bisexual men to donate humor without restrictions that specifically azygous retired a person's intersexual predisposition oregon gender, the nonprofit radical said Monday.

The Red Cross is implementing caller Food and Drug Administration screening guidelines that use to each imaginable donors and are based connected an idiosyncratic hazard assessment. The nonprofit radical provides astir 40% of the nation's humor supply.

Under the caller FDA guidelines, men successful monogamous intersexual relationships with different men are eligible to donate arsenic agelong arsenic they conscionable different screening criteria. Previously, men who had enactment with men had to stay abstinent for 3 months earlier donating blood.

The three-month waiting play present applies to anyone, careless of intersexual predisposition oregon gender, who has had enactment with a caller spouse oregon aggregate radical and has besides had anal sex.

The Red Cross said successful a connection that the enactment understands the humor donation waiting play based connected a past of anal enactment appears to unfairly people cheery and bisexual men.

The nonprofit radical said it is moving with the FDA to marque the humor donation guidelines much inclusive.

The FDA successful May dropped a astir 40-year argumentation that had singled retired men who person enactment with men arsenic precocious hazard to the humor proviso implicit concerns astir HIV transmission.

Gay rights groups and starring aesculapian associations had agelong opposed this argumentation arsenic unnecessary, unsupported by the existent subject and discriminatory.

The American Medical Association criticized the FDA argumentation arsenic unfairly singling retired cheery men alternatively than looking astatine a person's idiosyncratic hazard factors. While cheery men faced donation restrictions, adjacent if they had protected sex, consecutive men and women who had unprotected enactment with aggregate partners could inactive donate.

In the aftermath of the AIDs situation successful the 1980s, the FDA instructed humor donation agencies to not judge humor from men who person enactment with men. This argumentation was successful spot from 1985 until 2015.

This argumentation was implemented astatine a clip erstwhile HIV was poorly understood and remained successful spot adjacent arsenic exertion importantly improved to surface donations for blood-borne diseases, according to the AMA.

The FDA changed its guidelines successful 2015 to let men who person enactment with men to donate blood, but they had to stay abstinent for a twelvemonth earlier doing so. The bureau shortened the abstinence play to 3 months successful 2020 amid a humor shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Those taking oral medicine to forestall HIV infection, called pre-exposure prophylaxis oregon PrEP, inactive person to hold 3 months from their past dose to donate blood. People taking long-acting PrEP injections person to hold 2 years earlier donating.

Anyone who has ever tested affirmative for HIV remains permanently barred from donating blood.