I make this request because of the email that was sent out by Dr Loppnow.
It reads -
Please take some time out of your busy lives to help save someone else’s. EMU is pleased to be partnering with the American Red Cross by hosting blood drives on April 1, 2 and 3 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. in the Student Center. You can set up an appointment online at www.givelife.org and enter the sponsor code EMU.
Blood supplies are at critically low levels. The need is particularly acute after a popular vacation period like Spring Break/Easter, so your help is especially important at this time. Please make an appointment today.
Sincerely,
Donald M. Loppnow
Provost and Executive Vice President
I am personally barred from donating blood because I am gay man. The FDA currently has a policy that bans men who have sex with men from giving blood because they feel that gay men have a “higher risk” of having HIV/AIDS than any other population. At the time that this policy was created that statement was true.
Back in the 1980s when this policy was created there was a lot of people becoming infected with HIV from blood transfusions (Ryan White). So the FDA told the Red Cross and other organizations that collected blood donations that they had to test every pint of blood for HIV. At the time the Red Cross told the FDA it would not be cost effective to test every pint of the blood. (at the time that was true and would have caused the Red Cross to go bankrupt) In response the FDA created a policy that barred men who have sex with men aka gay men from donating blood.
Now today the Red Cross test every pint of blood for HIV. Also, HIV is not a “gay disease” it can infect anyone. Studies show that heterosexual African-American Females are actually the population in the USA which has the highest rate of infections. Those numbers are starting to change to show that all sub-populations are becoming equal in the infections rates.
SO in my view banning gay men from giving blood is flat wrong!
I am so proud that EMU is partnering to host this amazing cause. However, it still saddens me I cannot participate fully in a program I find 1000000% worthy. I will not ask that this program be banned from coming to campus because of the discriminatory actions it takes, I just want to take time to educate people on the facts so one day we can change the policy.
I would like to donate blood to help save lives, but the FDA says my HIV- Blood is unsafe because I am a gay man. Please donate blood in my place so that the FDA’s policy will not stand in the way of my passion in saving lives. Please consider doing so, you donation will save countless lives.
Thank you for helping to save lives in my place!
Source for the statement “Studies show that heterosexual African-American Females are actually the population in the USA which has the highest rate of infections,” please.
Sue,
Here you go…would you me like to list more……
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/PUBLICATIONS/frtp/youngaawomen.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7032358/
http://www.avert.org/america.htm
http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm
Please hold the same standard of sources for your statements as well.
Thanks for the quick response. I’ll take a look through them.
Regarding “Please hold the same standard of sources for your statements as well,”– what are you talking about? The only unsubstantiated statement I’ve made on emutalk in the month or so that I can remember is my comment that Stroh entered a situation that was a mess of years’ making. That’ll be tough for me to substantiate, because it requires an argument from multiple data sources.
Everything else from me has been opinion.
Well, I did a quick pass through your references Chris. While I’m not happy with them, because they don’t support your statement (as least I didn’t see that support on my quick read through), and they are secondary sources. But, the first article does reference CDC studies. Now that’s more like it! When I have time I’ll look at the CDC reports — hopefully that’ll be closer to a primary source.
Since we’re in the business of education here, I’ll tell you why I am having problems with your sources, in the order given:
(1) Numbers are given relating black women infection rates to white women rates:
“From 2000 through 2003, HIV and AIDS rates for African American females were 19 times the rates for white females.[3] Moreover, black women accounted for 67 percent of all new AIDS cases among women in 2003 while white females accounted for 15 percent.” I don’t see anything in this article (though maybe I missed it — I read through it fast — that compares women’s rates against men’s rates, or women’s rates (or black women’s rates) compared to the remainder of the population.
This article does have numbers that support the statement “Young black women, ages 15 through 24, are at heightened risk of HIV and other STIs.” ‘Heightened’ means increased danger of infection from an earlier date.
(2) Numbers state that HIV infection rates have doubled in the black population (from an already distressing rate) while holding steady in the white population. Nothing is said about female versus male.
(3) Numbers state that 50% of AIDs diagnoses were from the black population in America (i.e., 12% of the total population). Nothing is said about female versus male. Also has the incredible statement that “AIDS is now the leading cause of death amongst African American women” This is a horrifying statement, and I’ll need to see the source for that one as well. Maybe the CDC reports have more info there.
(4) Says: “By 1988, African Americans accounted for half of all AIDS cases identified in females in the US 1. Today, the figure stands at 67%.” I.e., if you are female and if you have AIDS, there is a 67% chance you are African American. Nothing comparing women to men.
So, I am missing the numbers that say that female african americans have a k% infection rate which is greater than that of any other population, including male african american, female white and male white.
HOWEVER! the point of your article was to urge people to donate blood, and I have hijacked the conversation into a side issue — one you brought up, but a still just a side issue from the really important one.
The important point is to donate blood. It’s a good thing. If you are allowed to donate, I urge you to donate every couple of months. If you’re not allowed to donate, then volunteer at Red Cross. It’s a very, very good thing.
I’ve been donating since I was 17 (I’m 50 now) but I’ve been doing it in donation centers. This time I will donate at EMU and, with any luck, serve as a role model for my peers and a few students (“Hey, if that old geezer can do it then I bet I could too.”).
If it comes up, I’ll remind those in charge that if other blood tests are any indication, tests for HIV are most likely faster, cheaper, and more accurate than they were back in the days when discriminatory policies were put in place and perhaps it is time for a review.
Drip, drip, and away…
You are right the important part of this posting is the fact that gay men are barred from donating blood, even if our blood is HIV-. This University needs to educate the University Community about the discriminatory actions being taken by barring gay men from giving blood.
The main point of the matter is that HIV is not just a disease that effects gay men it effects all people.
Why are gay men who are HIV- barred from giving blood?
I don’t agree with the policy given the technology to test for such diseases in the blood supply. It is old and out dated and needs to be fixed. I did hear that a few Universities tried or did boycott the blood drive for that reason (googled it but didn’t find the article).
I don’t think the best way to get the policy changed is to say black women have the highest infection rate (any group/race for that matter). My research indicates your statement is incorrect (statistics can favor any argument). They have the highest risk of getting infected, but in 2005 almost three quarters of HIV/AIDS diagnoses were for male adolescents and adults. (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/At-A-Glance.htm)
On that same page it does break down infection rates by race and there are some interesting numbers. I would not suggest using those numbers to justify lifting the ban.
It’s an old policy that is as useless now as it was then (it’s not that hard to check “no”) and it’s time for it to be changed.
The FDA regulates blood donation guidelines not the Red Cross. There is an interesting side note located on the Red Cross’s website about type O HIV, which is a rare form of HIV found in African countries and currently is not tested for (http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/blood/supply/HIVo.html). It states “It is possible that the tests used to screen donated blood may someday be improved so that they detect Type O HIV. If so, these donation restrictions may be removed.
So the question begs if the restrictions may be removed for people who lived in African countries once a better type of detection becomes available for type O then why hasn’t the restriction been lifted for a lack of a better word ‘normal’ HIV infections?
Please donate. For 23 years I was a regular donor (6x a year – more if it was just platelets). But…then came chemo. Now I am banned from donating.