THE BAN ON gay men donating blood here is being reviewed and a 12 month deferral for donations is being considered. Health Minister Leo Varadkar has said that this would bring Ireland into line with countries like the UK, Sweden and Australia, but he will consult the Chief Medical Officer and patients before making his ultimate decision.
“My initial impression is to favour a one-year deferral which would bring Ireland into line with many other English-speaking countries, but I will first get advice from the Chief Medical Officer, and hear the voices of patients, before making a final decision,” he said.
Why can’t gay men give blood?
A lifetime ban on blood donation by men who had ever had sex with another man was put in place here in the mid-1980s as a response to the panic around Aids and its spread through blood transfusions. And supporters of our current ban are somewhat justified. Obviously all donated blood is thoroughly tested but the HIV virus can take months to actually to show up. So if you only recently contracted HIV and you then give blood, you might unintentionally be introducing this virus into our blood bank.
The stats show that a gay man is seven times more likely to contract the HIV virus than a straight man is, so the risk is much higher and until now has been considered too great to take a gamble on. There may also be other infections that haven’t been discovered yet that would be more easily passed on in this way – after all, we didn’t know about Hep C until thousands had been infected.
It’s not just gay men who aren’t eligible to donate. Other groups who are barred include those who received a blood transfusion (other than an autologous transfusion) outside of Ireland at any time, anyone who spent more than one year living in the UK between 1980 and 1996 and anybody who has ever used a needle to take unprescribed drugs, including any body building drugs.
Moves to open the door to some
The US Food and Drug Administration announced late last year that it will release a new draft guidance soon that will ultimately open the door to blood donations from gay men who have abstained from sex for one year.
Back in November 2011, the NHS Blood and Transplant, the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service and the Welsh Blood Transfusion Service changed the permanent exclusion of gay men from donating blood to a 12 month fixed period deferral from their last sexual encounter. This decision was made by the UK Health Ministers following advice received from the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service reviewed the report but decided not to change its position.
The rules are too restrictive – and we all suffer because of them
Blood donations are beyond crucial and so many of us might not have our loved ones with us today if it was not for this generous and selfless action of others. We should really be looking at the science that is involved and not penalising people in monogamous relationships who practise safe sex, simply because the person that they do that with happens to be another man.
At the moment the blood service makes no distinction between sex with a condom and sex without one. All oral or anal sex between men is grounds for refusing a donor under the current rules. This isn’t really fair.
Most gay and bisexual men do not have HIV and will never have HIV. If they always have safe sex with a condom, have only one partner and test HIV negative, their blood is safe to donate.
Our rules are discriminatory against gay men who are in long-term, monogamous relationships. Should they not be allowed to help save lives by becoming donors? This lifetime ban is only being driven by homophobic, stereotypical assumptions, not by scientific facts and medical evidence. For the vast majority of men who have sex with men, their blood is safe to donate.
People need blood
The most persuasive evidence for changing our ban comes from Australia. It introduced a one-year ban on donations more than ten years ago and all recent studies show that there wasn’t any significant change in blood safety since its introduction. Also, a US government study proved that gay men would be more likely to follow guidelines and be honest about their eligibility to donate if there was just a one year deferral.
Our current blood donation system is only based on trust and there is no policing to ensure that all donors – gay or straight – are honest about their sexual lives. There is no way of stopping someone lying about their risk factors on the donor form.
Our blood banks are often running really low and we are locking thousands of potential donors out. It’s high time to review the ban while still ensuring every possible step is taken to maintain the safety of our blood supply.
Lorraine Courtney is a freelance journalist. Follow her on Twitter @lorrainecath.
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