EDGE on the Net

In the wake of a July 26 hearing on the lifetime ban on gay blood donors conducted by the Food and Drug Administration’s Blood Products Advisory Committee, two Congressmen have kept up the push to rescind a ban that many see as discriminatory and unnecessary.

The ongoing push marks the continuation of efforts that began earlier this year. Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois), and more than 40 members of Congress signed sent a letter last month to the chair of the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability. The June 9 letter read, in part, "We join with medical experts at the American Red Cross, America’s Blood Centers, AABB, and the American Medical Association, among others, in calling for a change in policy that better reflects the science of high risk behavior for HIV. The time has clearly come to review and modify this policy to strengthen the safety of the blood supply and remove any needless discriminatory rules from the process.

"In the wake of the major blood donor organizations stating that the lifetime ban on MSM blood donors is ’medically and scientifically unwarranted,’ we urge you to utilize the most up to date and comprehensive medical and scientific data regarding high risk behaviors in your considerations," the letter added. "In order to improve the integrity of the blood supply, we believe it is imperative that all high risk behaviors be appropriately targeted in the screening process and that similar deferral periods are established for similar risks.

"As the policy currently stands, a number of potential oversights and medically unjustifiable double standards seem apparent," continued the letter. "For instance, there is no prescribed consideration of safer sex practices, individuals who routinely practice unsafe heterosexual sex face no deferral period at all while monogamous and married homosexual partners who practice safe sex are banned for life. In fact, a woman who has sexual relations with an HIV positive male is deferred for one year, while a man who has had sexual relations with another man, even a monogamous partner, is deferred for life.

"Even individuals who have paid prostitutes for heterosexual sex face a deferral period of one year while gay men face a lifetime ban," the letter noted. "These do not strike us as scientifically sound conclusions."

Sen. Kerry also submitted testimony for the FDA panel’s July 26 hearing. "Members of the Blood Products Advisory Committee, I thank you for dedicating a portion of this meeting to reviewing the June 11 recommendations of the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Blood Product Safety and Availability (CBPSA) regarding the outdated and, as labeled by CBPSA, ’suboptimal’ policy that prohibits any man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977 from ever donating blood," Kerry addressed the panel.

"With the American Red Cross, the American Medical Association, America’s Blood Centers, and AABB, among others, calling for this policy to be reformed, it is certainly past time to examine scientifically and medically sound alternative screening procedures to ensure the highest level of safety possible for the nation’s blood supply. Although members of CBPSA narrowly voted against the immediate repeal of this policy, I am pleased that they voted unanimously in favor of a path forward on this issue that I believe will ultimately lead to the replacement of this antiquated blood donor screening policy with one that truly is scientifically sound."

Added Kerry, "This is a discussion with real social significance for gay men. They are clearly the target of this policy, which was initiated in the early 80’s when little was known about HIV / AIDS except that gay men seemed to be contracting it almost exclusively. Today, this lingering policy carries with it a social stigma for this population that is still engaged in battles for civil rights on a whole array of fronts.

"But, as much significance as this carries for gay men, I absolutely believe that this discussion must begin and end with the integrity of the blood supply and the safety of the recipients of blood transfusion. They deserve the strongest protections the United States of America can muster from diseases like HIV spreading through the blood supply.

"However," continued Kerry, "if this policy is not declared a necessity by the science of blood supply safety, then no one’s health would be compromised were the policy appropriately modified, and the only leg the current policy would have left to stand on would be unjustifiable discrimination. Today, I join with medical experts at the American Red Cross, the American Medical Association, and many others in asserting that this policy is simply not called for by the science. In order to ensure the safety of the American people, there are better alternatives."

The senator continued, "It is crystal clear that we have come a long, long way over the last three decades in our understanding of HIV / AIDS. The science regarding contraction of this disease has advanced dramatically, the detection methods have become more and more perfected, and our understanding of what constitutes high risk behavior has grown far beyond the ignorant idea that sexual orientation is an indicator in itself.

Condoms have become standard use for millions of Americans of all sexual orientations, and healthy gay men can today consummate a union with lifelong, monogamous partners in marriage in my home state of Massachusetts and in several others. Does anyone believe that these men are at high risk of contracting HIV?

And yet, with all of this change, this policy lingers on and is today responsible for turning away thousands of healthy donors from blood clinics across the country, not because they have engaged in highly risky behavior, but because they are gay. This is blood that could save lives.

"I trust that, as we move forward in this process, we will be guided by science rather than the past in determining the best screening policies to help make our blood supply even safer for all who depend on it," Kerry added. "I am dedicated to working with Secretary Hamburg, Secretary Sebelius, and other concerned Members of Congress to expeditiously move us down that path."

Next: Support from the House