WASHINGTON — Six House Democrats on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to lift what they called an “unrealistic” ban on sexually active gay men from donating blood that furthers an old stigma.
WASHINGTON — Six House Democrats on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to lift what they called an “unrealistic” ban on sexually active gay men from donating blood that furthers an old stigma.
“(T)he 12-month deferral policy, which suggests that the sexual relationships of (gay) men and transgender women inherently pose a risk of HIV transmission, furthers a stigma that we have persistently fought to eliminate,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert D. Califf. “The FDA questionnaire should reflect risk-based behaviors as opposed to sexual orientation.”
Blood banks in Orlando, Fla., have been so overwhelmed with long lines of people wanting to donate in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting that left 49 people dead and 53 injured that they asked people to stop coming.
By wire sources