FDA urged to relax tissue donation ban for gay and bisexual men

[Jilly_in_VA]

The federal government in 2020 and 2023 changed its rules on organ and blood donation, reducing the restrictions on men who have had sex with another man.

But the Food and Drug Administration’s old restrictions on donated tissue, a catchall term encompassing everything from a person’s eyes to their skin and ligaments, remain in place. Lawmakers and advocates, especially for cornea donation, want to align the guidelines for tissue donated by gay and bisexual men with those that apply to the rest of the human body.

They have been asking the FDA for years to reduce the deferral period from five years to 90 days, meaning a man who has had sex with another man would be able to donate tissue as long as such sex didn’t occur within three months of his death.

And they are frustrated. The FDA has put changes to the tissue guidance on its agenda since 2022 but has yet to act on them.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/05/27/fda-tissue-donation-gay-men-ban/73837429007/

The ban is antiquated and prejudicial.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. good.

[brewens]

2. I'm going to start donating blood platelets again at the blood center I'm retired from. It will be interesting to see

if the health history questionnaire has changed in the two years since my last donation.

We were told there were big changes coming a few years before I left in 2017 but it's been slow. They were supposed to get away from questions targeting gay men. They would only ask about what the FDA considers high risk behavior by anyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

The last time I donated they had made changes to accommodate trans people. They asked everyone if they had ever been pregnant when those had been questions only donors registered as female were asked.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. I'm wondering

if they've stopped asking people if they've ever had sex even once, with someone who's ever lived in Africa. They excluded a friend of mine because his wife was a missionary kid in Africa before she was 12 years old. I mean, get a grip, FFS.
I can't donate any more because I'm on blood thinners.