“The FDA has been actively engaged in reexamining the issue of blood donor deferral for men who have had sex with other men (MSM),” FDA spokesperson Shelly Burgess wrote in an email to TheColu.mn, “taking into account the current body of scientific information, and we are considering the possibility of pursuing alternative strategies that maintain blood safety.”
Three weeks ago, Franken and his colleagues sent the FDA a letter arguing that the ban is outdated and scientifically unsound, in light of extremely sensitive HIV tests currently used to screen blood and the increasing rates of HIV among non-IV-drug-using heterosexuals, who are currently allowed to donate. The FDA maintains that the ban, last revisited in 2006, is nothing more than a concession to the higher rate of HIV among gay and bi men than among heterosexuals, and current tests aren’t up to the task of ensuring blood safety, even though the Agency admits they have a less than one-in-one-million chance of missing HIV in a sample of blood.
Currently, Burgess says, the FDA is not seeking public comment on the issue, since their reexamination has not yet resulted in a proposed rule.