France allow homosexuals to donate blood from next year, following the implementation of mechanisms of progressive control said Health Minister, Marisol Touraine. EFE
"Since the spring of 2016 no person shall be excluded from donating blood because of their sexual orientation. The safety of the people receiving the transfusion should be absolutely respected "Touraine said in an interview published today in the French Le Monde evening.
France banned since 1983 blood donation homosexuals because of the risk of spread of AIDS.
She said that the opening of the grant homosexuals will "staged".
At first, it will be allowed to donate only to homosexuals who have not had sex with other men in a year.
Homosexuals can donate your plasma provided they have a stable relationship for four months or if they have not had sex in that period.
The analysis of these first donations "allow us to carry out studies and, if there are no risks, the rules that apply to homosexuals will be approaching the general along the following year rules," said Touraine.
With these restrictions, the Ministry aims to reduce the risks of contracting AIDS, a disease that affects more percentage of homosexuals.
In addition, it seeks to address the so-called "silent window," ten days during which the virus is undetectable in the blood collected.
The minister indicated that the questionnaires that donors must complete before donating to specify the conditions to be met homosexuals and heterosexuals who have risk practices, such as sex with prostitutes, he said will change.
Touraine showed from the start of the favorable blood donation open homosexuals legislature, but at first indicated that the conditions for doing so were not fulfilled.
Last spring, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) warranted a ban on donations containing the French law "as long as was justified."
But French President Francois Hollande had pledged during the campaign to lift the veto, so Touraine met an ethical committee to study the possibilities of modifying the law.
According to official estimates, with the opening of donations to homosexuals will be 21,000 new donors per year in a country that needs 10,000 donations daily.
Homosexual partnerships considered this opening step, but expressed their wish that any discrimination is eliminated.
For its part, the associations considered that the grant recipient "is not a right" and noted that the priority should be health security.