I learnt an interesting fact today: Despite the shortage of blood donors, gay men (or men who have ever had intercourse with another man) are discouraged in the UK from being blood donors and are actually banned in the US.
From what I've read, the reason is that men who sleep with other men are a high risk for HIV.
While on the surface this seems to be a sensible and valid argument, it ignores the fact that HIV is now widespread in the general population and not just limited to the homosexual community; this isn't the 80's any more.
Screening for HIV these days is supposed to be very accurate and can take just a matter of days to test, so the risks of getting infected blood is probably very small.
Personally I feel the ban is an example of institutional homophobia.
What do you think?
If you want more information follow the link to an article on Gaylife.About.com in the references which has more information (though does seem biased towards the gay view point).
References:
Nation Blood Service information on who can't give blood
Gaylife.About.com article: Gay Blood and Bone Marrow Donors
No comments:
Post a Comment