FDA to Boot 32-Year Ban on Gay Blood Donors

Gay men who until now were barred from donating blood may soon be able to donate as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to change its stand.

FDA has formally proposed changing its deferral policy regarding men who have sex with other men by allowing them to donate blood if they have abstained from homosexual sex for one year. Until recently, such men were deferred from blood donation.

"Since September 1985, FDA has recommended that blood establishments indefinitely defer male donors who have had sex with another male, even one time, since 1977, due to the strong clustering of AIDS illness in the MSM community and the subsequent discovery of high rates of HIV infection in that population," FDA said in its recommendations.

Nearly 57 percent of all HIV infected people in 2011 were MSM and they were at an increased risk of HIV infection, FDA noted.

"In 2010, male-to-male sexual contact accounted for 63% of newly diagnosed HIV infections among adults, and 78% of newly diagnosed HIV infections in men, indicating that male-to-male sexual contact remains associated with high risk of HIV exposure," the agency noted.

However FDA said it did not find any compelling evidence for recommending lifetime deferral, which is viewed as discriminatory by gay-rights groups. Besides recommending a 12 month deferral for gay men, the agency also recommended that women who had sex with such men within 12 months of blood donation abstain from donating.