I was surprised at the omission from Dr Luisa Dillner's guide to donating blood (G2, 7 June) of the fact that the UK National Blood Service prevents the donation of blood from men who have sex with men. Such a blanket ban prevents a large number of healthy individuals from donating much-needed blood and playing their part in contributing to the welfare of others. Countries such as Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand have all recently changed their policies to allow gay men who pose no risk to the blood supply to donate blood.Michael Contaldo
Salford
The Sunday Times reported in April that the government may lift the ban and gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood if they haven't had sex with a man since the invention of the motor car.
But seeing as The Sunday Times proudly announced in February 'Gays Will Get Right To Marry' I'd take this with a pinch of tea and biscuits.
Posts
While New Zealand changed its rules on blood donation for gay men in March 2009, it still means that any gay person that actually practices their sexuality will be excluded, so it is essentially pointless. The policy is that gay men who have had oral or anal sex without a condom is banned from giving blood for five years! See - http://www.nzblood.co.nz/Give-blood/Donating/Detailed%20eligibility%20criteria
ReplyDelete