WASHINGTON — The United States is easing restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men and other groups that traditionally face a higher risk of HIV infection.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released draft guidance that would remove the current three-month abstinence requirement for donations from men who have sex with men. Instead, potential donors will be screened with a questionnaire that assesses their individual risk for HIV based on sexual behavior, recent sexual partners, and other factors.
If finalized, the change would be the FDA’s latest move to expand donor eligibility, with the potential to increase the U.S. blood supply.
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Gay rights groups have long opposed restrictions on who can give blood, arguing that they discriminate against the LGBTQ community. Medical associations including the American Medical Association also say such exclusions are unnecessary due to advances in blood test technology to detect infectious diseases.
Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said: “Current and past blood donation policies make unfounded assumptions about gay and bisexual men and do entanglement of individuals’ identities with their potential for HIV infection.
The United States and many other countries began blocking blood donations from gay and bisexual men during the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s, with the aim of stopping the spread of HIV through the blood supply.
In 2015, the FDA dropped the lifetime ban and replaced it with a one-year abstinence requirement. Then in 2020, the agency shortened the period of abstinence to three months, after donations plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regulators say there is no negative impact on the blood supply as a result of those changes.
The FDA sets requirements and procedures for blood banks across the United States. All potential blood donors answered questions about sexual history, drug use, and any recent tattoos or piercings, among other factors that may have contributed to the spread. blood-borne diseases. The donated blood is then tested for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and other infectious diseases.
Under the new questionnaire, men who have sex with men will be asked about new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months. Those who answered affirmatively to either question and also reported having anal sex will be barred from donating until a later date. This policy will also apply to women who have sex with gay or bisexual men.
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The policy reflects those used in Canada and the UK
The FDA based its latest recommendation on a recent study of 1,600 gay and bisexual men. The FDA-funded study compared the effectiveness of a detailed, personalized questionnaire on sexual behavior with current time-based abstinence rules.
According to Cliff Numark, chief executive officer of Vitalant, a blood center involved in the study, it will take several months for blood banks to implement the changes. The changes will require new questionnaires, staff training and computer software updates.
The Red Cross said it supported the FDA’s changes but added that it was too early to know if they would lead to more blood donors.
Lukas Pietrzak of Washington DC, said he is eager to volunteer for the FDA study. He believes an emergency blood transfusion saved his father’s life after a bicycle accident in 1991.
Pietrzak donated blood in high school but failed to qualify after having sex as a gay man.
Pietrzak, 26, who now works for the federal government, said: ‘Until I went public with my friends, I had to explain why I never went to sacrifice with them.
When there were calls to donate blood “we can now participate,” says Pietrzak.
