In England, they will allow blood donation to gays who refused sex within a year
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The British authorities will allow blood donation to gays who refrain from same-sex contacts during the year. As reported by the BBC, the new rules for donating blood will come into force on November 7, 2011 in England, Scotland and Wales.
A lifetime ban on blood donation for homosexual people was introduced in the UK in the early 1980s. This measure was adopted in connection with the threat of the spread of HIV infection and the lack of reliable methods for its diagnosis.
However, in April 2011, the British authorities placed these rules in doubt for both ethical and medical reasons. In this regard, the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood Donor, Tissues and Organs of the United Kingdom has approved new rules for the quality control of blood products.
The representative of the committee Deirdre Kelly (Deirdre Kelly) noted that the improvement of the method of control of blood products made it possible to significantly reduce the number of errors in the studies, as well as to shorten the period when the detection of HIV in the blood is impossible. According to her, new diagnostic methods allow to determine the presence of the immunodeficiency virus not later than 12 months after infection, so a lifelong ban on donation is not necessary.
Initially, the British authorities planned to allow gays to donate blood only after ten years of abstinence from same-sex contacts.
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