United States on Monday formally lifted the ban on donating blood for life force for gay men, replacing it with a new rule maintains a waiting period of 12 months after the last sexual contact.
AFP
The decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for its acronym in English) aligns the US with other developed countries, such as France, Japan and Australia, which recently authorized to donate blood to men who have sex with men, while they have not been intimate in the past year.
The new provision buried a ban dating back to 1983, when the AIDS epidemic was in its infancy and many experts feared the possible contamination of blood supplies with a little-known disease.
"Reviewing our policies to help reduce the risk of HIV transmission through blood products, rigorously examine alternatives, including individual risk assessment," said Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biological Evaluation and Research at the FDA.
"The space of 12 months (between sex and donation) it is supported by the best scientific evidence available at this time for the American people," he added.
However, the ban is maintained for sex workers and people who inject drugs. "There are insufficient data to support a change in the recommendations of existing deferral at this time," the FDA said in a statement.
In reaching this decision, the FDA "examined various recent studies, epidemiological data and shared experiences of other countries that had made recent changes to the terms of the politics of men who have sex with men."
"These published studies documenting changes in risks in the blood supply when used with a stay of 12 months," he said.
Currently, hemophiliacs and people with coagulation disorders are still waiting for its ban on donating blood to rise, although the FDA says it is "for their own protection, because of the potential damage of the large needles that are used in procedures donation".