XPost: alt.activism, alt.christnet.public-school, alt.circumcision   
   XPost: alt.homosexuality   
   From: johng@4ax.com   
      
   (Reuters) - Gay men will be able to donate blood one year after   
   their last sexual contact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration   
   said on Tuesday, under a proposal that will be introduced early   
   next year to end a ban that has been in place since 1983.   
      
   Scientific evidence shows the move will not create risks for the   
   nation's blood supply, the FDA said. The policy change is   
   expected to boost the supply of donated blood by hundreds of   
   thousands of pints per year.   
      
   Blood donations from gay men have been barred since the   
   discovery that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was being   
   transmitted through transfusions.   
      
   The FDA said the move aligns the policy for gay men with that   
   for other men and women who are at increased risk for HIV   
   infection. The agency, under pressure from medical groups and   
   advocates, had convened meetings of advisory committees this   
   fall to look at the issue.   
      
   "The FDA has carefully examined and considered the available   
   scientific evidence relevant to its blood donor deferral policy   
   for men who have sex with men, including the results of several   
   recently completed scientific studies and recent epidemiologic   
   data," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement.   
      
   The FDA said it will issue draft guidance on the policy,   
   hopefully early in 2015. It would then review the comments and   
   issue final guidance "as quickly as possible," Peter Marks,   
   deputy director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and   
   Research, said during a press briefing.   
      
   An FDA advisory committee met this month to discuss issues   
   around changing the policy, such as the effectiveness of new   
   blood supply tests for HIV infections. In November, an advisory   
   committee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services   
   recommended a one-year deferral.   
      
   The FDA stopped short of eliminating the ban for gay men   
   altogether. Marks said during the briefing that scientific   
   evidence for a ban shorter than a year was not "compelling."   
      
   In September, the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and   
   Gender Identity Law at the University of California, Los Angeles   
   said a study showed eliminating the ban would bring in 615,300   
   pints of blood annually. Instituting a one-year deferral period   
   would bring in 317,000 pints, the study found.   
      
   The United Kingdom allows gay men to donate blood if they have   
   not had a sexual partner in 12 months. The American Medical   
   Association this summer voted to oppose the ban.   
      
   (Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Christian Plumb and   
   David Gregorio)   
      
   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/us-usa-blood-donations-   
   idUSKBN0K11LI20141223   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)