Donation discrimination

Do you have a history of intravenous drug abuse? Have you lived in countries where there have been outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease? Do you have syphilis? Are you a man who has had sex with a man at any time since 1977?\nIf you answered yes to any of these questions, you cannot donate blood in the United States. Yet, answering “yes” to one of these questions doesn’t indicate the risk one might normally suspect.\nThe FDA prohibits men who have had sex with other men since 1977 from donating blood. This policy has been in effect since 1983.\nThe FDA tries to keep its blood supply as disease-free as possible, but in the process, it has overstepped the boundaries of necessary caution, and instead holds onto outdated and harmful stereotypes about the gay community. \nSome have recently voiced concern over the FDA policy. Last week, the president of San Jose State University prohibited any blood drives from taking place on the campus, citing the university’s antidiscrimination policy as the reason. Campus groups who organize community blood drives will have to do so off campus.\nIn the 1980s, gay men were at the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But now, 25 years later, men who have sex with other men, or MSM, as the FDA calls this group, are only one of many groups at risk for contracting HIV.\nAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the black population, which counts as 13 percent of the total American population, accounted for 49 percent of new HIV cases in 2005.\nIn 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the leading cause of death for black women between the ages of 25 and 34 was HIV/AIDS. \nIf the FDA’s policy regarding MSM intends to ban an especially at-risk population from potentially harming the blood supply, then it would have to extend this ban to other “high-risk” groups, including blacks. A policy like that would obviously be totally unacceptable and discriminatory. How is the current policy any different? \nThe FDA’s policy reflects the stereotype that gay men are more likely to have AIDS. In fact, the gay community has helped pioneer the safe sex and AIDS-awareness movements. Younger people have benefited from this awareness. Today, rates of HIV/AIDS incidence among MSMs from young men to 34-year-olds are much lower than the rates among those ages 35 to 44. \nWe agree that the FDA policy is discriminatory, but we believe San Jose State has gone too far in banning blood drives altogether. As the FDA constantly reminds us, blood is in short supply. There are more effective ways of protesting the FDA policy than denying blood to those who need it. \nThe FDA must revise its current policy so it does not discriminate against certain groups or enable old stereotypes.\nHIV/AIDS is an issue many communities face in the United States, and canceling blood drives does not help in the effort to eradicate the disease. It only leaves people in need of blood without it.