FDA hinders U. blood donation policy

The Rutgers University Senate is exploring ways to avoid violating its own non-discrimination policy for blood donations, due to a Food and Drug Administration policy of denying donations from males who have had sex with other males.
“We have worked diligently for the FDA to review this policy, explaining what we believe to be a fair policy and why it would be safe to allow them donations, but you can only be in operation if you follow the guidelines of the FDA,” said Assistant Director of Hurtado Health Center Dr. Dorothy Kozlowski.
The senate was charged with finding out whether the FDA regulation violates the University’s non-discrimination policy. Though their research will not be finalized until December, so far they have found it does not violate the University’s policy.
“There is a distinct difference between homosexuals and ‘men who have had sex with men,’ as a homosexual male who is a virgin would be permitted to donate blood, but also, a straight male who has happened to have sex with another male would not. There is a fine line there which should be noted,” said Student Affairs Committee Co-chair Kevin Wild, who is a Rutgers-Newark University College junior.
Men who have had sex with other men at any time since 1977, which was when the AIDS epidemic began in the United States, are deferred as blood donors, according to the FDA Web site.
“The University is obligated to follow the rules and regulations of the blood service centers who are regulated by the FDA,” Kozlowski said. “The benefit is great and we feel very honor-bound to continue to approach the FDA to review their policy, but through the generosity of many students, faculty and staff who have donated blood, we know that blood donation does save lives.”
The Student Affairs Committee reached out to the University General Counsel, which stated blood drives do not violate the non-discrimination policy, Wild said.
They have also contacted University Health Services and the University Blood Drive Committee, who said men who have had sex with men make up a small percentage of reasons why people are excluded from donating blood, Wild said.
“It is from these three expert opinions that the Student Affairs Committee plans on reporting that blood drives do not violate the non-discrimination clause of University Policy,” Wild said. “I anticipate this occurring at the October meeting of the University Senate.”
In order to assuage feelings of exclusion, the committee will recommend that all blood drives at the University should be registered through the University Blood Drive Committee, in addition to a full listing of donor requirements be made public outside the room where donations are made, the elimination of donor incentives and a warning in all advertisements about eligibility requirements.
“I think blood donation is important but the act of not allowing members of the [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community is a very discriminating act,” said Co-President of LLEGO Shawnna James, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. “I’m looking forward to seeing the discussion about this topic in the University Senate. I don’t see why that’s a policy in the first place if blood is screened regardless.”
After blood is donated, it is tested for hepatitis, HIV and syphilis, among other transmissible conditions, according to the New York Blood Center’s Web site, which is the parent company of the New Jersey Blood Center.
According to the FDA Web site, men who have had sex with men have a higher risk of donating during a “window period,” where low levels of the HIV virus make it difficult to detect it.
“I’m working for a blood drive coalition for the state of New Jersey for increasing donor supplies, and hopefully the state will also take a look at this issue and continue to work with the FDA on this,” Kozlowski said. “I work with people in the hospital association, Metlife [and] Rewardis.”
The Rutgers University Student Assembly’s University Affairs Committee is working on a similar project with members of the LGBT community to show the potential of those who are denied blood donation.
“They will bring friends to give blood in the name of a gay friend to see how much more blood would be given if this policy wasn’t enacted,” said University Affairs Chair Ben West, a Rutgers College senior. “This is a federal policy … but it does violate the non-discrimination policy, but we can’t just stop giving blood because a lot of groups benefit from it.”
The Food and Drug Administration is part of the federal government, which regulates policy regarding blood donation. For more information on their policy, you can visit http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/BloodBloodProducts/QuestionsaboutBlood/ucm108186.htm.
 

5 comments

Amy

Fri Oct 16 2009 17:39

If you did your research, you would see that the % of gay males infected with HIV/AIDS is almost identical to the amount to black population infected with HIV/AIDS. If you are going to discriminate for the sake of safety, then why not ban the black population as well.

This is hypocrisy. The donated blood goes through rigorous testing, any infections should be found. All should be welcomed and encouraged to donate when there is a need.

Jessica

Fri Sep 25 2009 18:52

Male homosexuality is a well know disease vector and homosexuals are banned by the FDA for legitimate reasons. AIDS is 50% more prevalent in homosexuals according to CDC. The CDC also found 65% of syphilis cases are homosexual males and 10% of new hepatitis cases are homosexual males ( and keep in mind CDC also says less that 3% of population describes itself as homosexual in CDC studies).

In major US cities there is also a burgeoning MRSA (now kills more people in US than AIDS) epidemic among homosexual males.

"A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.

The study estimated that 1 in 588 residents living within the Castro neighborhood 94114 ZIP code area is infected with that variant, which is resistant to six types of commonly used antibiotics. The risk of contracting this difficult-to-treat bug is 13 times greater for gay men than for the rest of the city's population, researchers found."

( sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/15/MNI5UE0L8.DTL )

"A potentially deadly and highly drug-resistant strain of MRSA has developed that can lead to a flesh-eating form of pneumonia, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. The bug, which is spreading rapidly among homosexual men in several major US cities, can cause boils as large as tennis balls, blood poisoning or a necrotising condition that eats away at the lungs.

"Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable," Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the study, told the Telegraph. "That's why we're trying to spread the message of prevention."

( theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23067953-23289,00.html )

The political pressure to ignore the realities of illness and disease present in homosexual population is very unwise. There is no justice and compassion in spreading disease to innocent people (like the hemophiliacs that were contaminated by AIDs contaminated blood and died by the hundreds)

George DeCarlo

Wed Sep 23 2009 08:31

"Rutgers Student?" Does not Rutgers University teach or profess being brave and not hiding when speaking one's mind? The education value of RU has declined. No where did I write that "nobody has the right to claim that they somehow need to donate blood for their own wellness." At Rutgers, do they teach to misquote as a means to win an argument at any cost? I write about discrimination based upon sexual orientation and you refer to an aspirin tablet. At RU, do the professors lecture at all on be consistent in an argument? The article as written is bigoted. Your write "There are many gay men that are denied the right to give blood" and then go on with other examples having nothing to do with sexual orientation discrimination. Gay men are denied blood donation 100% of the time since we are Gay. This causes a suffering for Gay men that heterosexual men do not have to deal with for their sexual orientation. Your write: "So next time you state 'any gay man' you shouldn't stereotype and make generalizations about gay men and their sexual activity." The stereotype is on the part of the article as written. This sentence of yours makes no sense as fas as to what I wrote. At Rutgers, do the professors even pretend to teach? The assumption in the article is that all Gay men have contact with a viral particle. This same assumption is not made for heterosexual men. Once again, all Gay men denied blood donation may file an action with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. The process is easy at their offices. There are many organizations that no longer allow blood donation at their facilities due to the discrimination. AT&T stopped once a complaint was made there by someone I know.

Rutgers Student

Tue Sep 22 2009 19:40

Actually, Kevin makes a perfectly valid point. I don't know what you mean by the term "suffer," but nobody has the right to claim that they somehow need to donate blood for their own wellness. If another person were denied donating blood for taking aspirin recently, you wouldn't call that suffering. And you should be much more careful when using the term "bigoted," every time you use it for a cheap-shot like that, you devalue the word. Also George DeCarlo, you should know that there are many other reasons why someone might be denied the opportunity to give blood. There are many gay men that are denied the right to give blood, not because of their personal life, but because they have spent more than three months in the UK or have taken aspirin in the last twenty-four hours. So next time you state "any gay man" you shouldn't stereotype and make generalizations about gay men and their sexual activity.

George DeCarlo

Fri Sep 18 2009 19:39

The bigoted comments in this article are not a surprise for New Jersey. The policy of denying Gay men at blood donation sites places them in a discriminatory situtation that heterosexual men do not have to suffer. Any Gay man denied the ability to give blood when the drive takes place may file an action with the Division on Civil Rights of New Jersey. The more actions filed the better. Kevin Wild, I know several Gay men you can discuss your remarks with in order to fill in the gap in your learning Rutgers has not provided.

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