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In Shift, FDA Says Gay And Bisexual Men Will Be Able To Donate Blood

In Shift, FDA Says Gay And Bisexual Men Will Be Able To Donate Blood

By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it will change its policy on allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood.

Men who have sex with men will be able to become blood donors one year after their last “sexual conduct,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, the FDA commissioner, said in a statement. The FDA will “take the necessary steps” to implement its new policy, she said.

Previously, such men were not allowed to donate blood because of the risk that doing so might fuel the spread of HIV.

The change in policy will treat gay and bisexual men the same way as other people who are at heightened risk for HIV, Hamburg said. Scientific and epidemiological studies have demonstrated that this shift on policy is justified, she added.

The FDA will “take the necessary steps” to implement its new policy, she said.

It is not clear whether this change will appease activists who have been pressing for the right to donate blood.

Hamburg also said that the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has already begun to implement a blood surveillance system to make sure the nation’s blood supply remains safe after the new policy is implemented.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

An Electronic Blood Sensor Becomes Reality

An Electronic Blood Sensor Becomes Reality

If you’ve been waiting for all the tech gadgets used in the various Star Trek TV shows and movies to hit the  market, you know we’ve gotten closer over the years. Touch-tablets for reading, two-way visual conversations over long distances, and talking computers have all become a reality — but that amazing Tricorder is still on the horizon.  Or is it?

A new sensor device called the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHealth X), manufactured by the DNA Medical Institute (DMI) in Massachusetts, uses lasers and minuscule test strips to scan a single drop of blood and detect a whole range of diseases, from the flu to Ebola. The blood mixes with the nano-strips and determines things like number of platelets, blood glucose, or thyroid function. It’s capable of performing 22 different tests.

The rHealth X also comes with a wearable gadget that will monitor your heart rate and breathing, and transmit the info to your smart phone. Sending all of your vitals directly to your doctor in this way might be the Holy Grail: Remote diagnosis. And who doesn’t want to save a trip to the doctor?

The DMI team that is developing the rHealth X has just been awarded the $525,000 Nokia Sensing X Challenge prize. It will use the money to further perfect the device, which will eventually come in consumer and health care professional models.

The transporter will have to wait, though.

Photo: Bobbie Johnson via Flickr

FDA Panel Considers Lifting Ban On Blood Donations By Gay Men

FDA Panel Considers Lifting Ban On Blood Donations By Gay Men

By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times (MCT)

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel has begun to consider whether to overturn a long-standing ban against accepting blood donations from gay men.

On Thursday, the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability heard testimony from advocates who say that the lifetime ban is discriminatory and that technological advances have made it obsolete.

“The ban on gay and bisexual men … was enacted in 1985 and focuses on sexual orientation more than the risk and science itself,” said Caleb Laieski, a 19-year-old gay activist who has sued the FDA to overturn the ban.

“A recent study by the American Red Cross estimates that lifting the blood donation ban could be used to help save the lives of more than 1.8 million people,” Laieski told the group.

The ban in the United States applies to any prospective male blood donor who has had sex with another man since 1977, the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., the FDA explains on its website.

The FDA said the ban was necessary because gay and bisexual men are at an increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other infections that can be transmitted via blood transfusion.

“HIV tests currently in use are highly accurate, but still cannot detect HIV 100 percent of the time,” the FDA states on its site. “It is estimated that the HIV risk from a unit of blood has been reduced to about 1 per 2 million in the USA, almost exclusively from so-called ‘window’ period donations.”

The window period exists very early after infection, when viral levels are too low to be detected by current methods. “For this reason, a person could test negative, even when they are actually HIV positive and infectious,” the FDA says.

Other industrialized countries, including Australia, Britain, France, Italy and Japan, have overturned similar bans on blood donation. Instead of barring gay and bisexual men for life, some of the countries allow them to donate blood if they have not had sex with another man in the last 12 months.

Laieski is not alone in opposing the U.S. ban. Last year, the American Medical Association voted to oppose the FDA policy, calling it “discriminatory and not based on sound science.”

In addition, three groups that supply nearly all of the nation’s blood — the American Red Cross, AABB and America’s Blood Centers — have long advocated ending the prohibition.

AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad