Some leading HIV-AIDS researchers say it's time to drop a discriminatory policy that bars all gay men from donating blood.
They argue in this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal that gay men in long-term monogamous relationships should be able to donate blood.
Lead author Dr. Mark Wainberg says they are not arguing that promiscuous gay men should be allowed to give blood.
But he says Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec should adopt policies that allow gay men to resume donating blood after waiting a year or even five years after taking a new partner.
Wainberg, who is head of McGill University's AIDS Centre, says the current policy is discriminatory against gay men.
He says heterosexual university students who have multiple sexual partners could pose a greater risk to the blood supply than gay men in long-term relationships.
Time to drop lifetime ban on gay men giving blood, HIV-AIDS experts argue
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Published on
May 25, 2010
- Published on July 1, 2010
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The Canadian Press ~ The News
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Comments
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- George
- - July 2, 2010 at 15:05:09
Agree with Chris, as for 'old man', your in hospital and need a transfusion, the nurse brings in two bags of blood and tells you one is from a homosexual and one is from a hetrosexual, which would you choose? you can now admit your a hypocrite. As for ignorance, the male homosexual community hijacked the word 'gay', so call a spade a spade. I'm sick and tired of the true meaning of the English language being turned into seemingly acceptable misnomers to appease minority groups. You don't call a turkey a fat chicken, so the 'AIDS experts' ( another misnomer ) have lost their cause before they start
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- Karen
- - July 2, 2010 at 15:04:27
FYI. There is a blood test that can detect HIV positive antibodies within 1 minute. Clinics here in Toronto use them for HIV testing. All blood donated needs to be tested for HIV, Hep A, B and C. This is definitely discriminatory. Many heterosexual persons carry Hep viruses as well as, HIV. It's not about sexuality. It is about testing blood!
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- Anon
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:59:41
The problem with that chris is that HIV can take months to be detected in the body so even if they did have a test they could never be sure.
I would like to see the statistics on sexual activity of your average gay male versus your average straight male as well as for females. I'm not entirely convinced gay men have more relations with more people than straight men. -
- Old Man Winter
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:50:10
I can't believe that this sort of discrimination is still accepted, or even tolerated for that matter. Stop the ignorance!
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- chris
- - July 2, 2010 at 14:44:23
What needs to be done is develop a quick on site test of blood donation that can eliminate any persons who can potentially contaminate the blood supply be they heterosexual or homosexual .
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- George
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:55:01
Agree with Chris, as for 'old man', your in hospital and need a transfusion, the nurse brings in two bags of blood and tells you one is from a homosexual and one is from a hetrosexual, which would you choose? you can now admit your a hypocrite. As for ignorance, the male homosexual community hijacked the word 'gay', so call a spade a spade. I'm sick and tired of the true meaning of the English language being turned into seemingly acceptable misnomers to appease minority groups. You don't call a turkey a fat chicken, so the 'AIDS experts' ( another misnomer ) have lost their cause before they start
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- Karen
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:53:43
FYI. There is a blood test that can detect HIV positive antibodies within 1 minute. Clinics here in Toronto use them for HIV testing. All blood donated needs to be tested for HIV, Hep A, B and C. This is definitely discriminatory. Many heterosexual persons carry Hep viruses as well as, HIV. It's not about sexuality. It is about testing blood!
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- Anon
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:47:14
The problem with that chris is that HIV can take months to be detected in the body so even if they did have a test they could never be sure.
I would like to see the statistics on sexual activity of your average gay male versus your average straight male as well as for females. I'm not entirely convinced gay men have more relations with more people than straight men. -
- Old Man Winter
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:32:41
I can't believe that this sort of discrimination is still accepted, or even tolerated for that matter. Stop the ignorance!
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- chris
- - July 1, 2010 at 21:23:15
What needs to be done is develop a quick on site test of blood donation that can eliminate any persons who can potentially contaminate the blood supply be they heterosexual or homosexual .
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