Students draft letter to Red Cross

Three University students are voicing their opposition to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) rules that prohibit homosexual males from donating blood to organizations including the Red Cross.

At an informal meeting Thursday, Laura Wieschaus '07, Meghan McCormick '07 and Karen Wolfgang '06 discussed options to oppose the FDA policy. Joined by Mary Gallery '07 and LGBT director Deborah Bazarsky, they drafted recommendations for changes to the FDA's policy toward homosexual men.

"The entire process treats homosexual men as one homogenous group, within which all members engage in the same sexual activities," a rough draft of the letter read. "This does not allow for recognition of each individual's unique history."

The students plan to send the letter to the FDA and to local and national chapters of the Red Cross, which bases donor eligibility on FDA guidelines. Hoping to gain the Red Cross' support in opposing the rules, the students wrote: "We understand that this is an FDA policy and that the Red Cross has little choice but to follow."

FDA regulations, enacted in 1983, stipulate that a potential donor who is "a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977" cannot donate blood because he is at a higher risk for HIV/AIDS infection than the general population. The procedure has come under review several times, most recently in September of 2000, but no changes were made.

The policy "might have made sense in 1982, but doesn't make sense now," Gallery said.

The current screening process does not inquire into the sexual activity of heterosexuals more than one year prior to donating. The letter proposes that time-limited questions also be applied to individuals identifying as homosexual "because risk should be evaluated consistently."

The letter also urges the Red Cross to "ask all donors whether they have had unprotected sex" in addition to asking whether potential donors have had sex for money or drugs.

"Safe-sex practices reduce, but do not eliminate, the risk of the transmission of AIDS," the FDA says on its website. It states that, though the screening process will eliminate some safe donors, the benefit of reducing the risk of infection in the blood pool takes precedence.

McCormick disagreed, saying that the "risk is so small compared to what the benefit is" and citing the 4,000 lives that could possibly be saved if gay men could donate blood.

She added, "it is possible for homosexual men to donate blood at other institutions."

Kristy Kane, a Red Cross communications manager of blood services in Philadelphia, said the safety of the blood supply that hospital patients receive is of highest priority. "The safety of blood transfusions is a public health issue," she said. "Without a safe supply to draw from, public health will be in jeopardy."

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The Red Cross will continue to adhere to the FDA rules, Kane said, but added that the Red Cross and American Blood Centers have recommended that the FDA reevaluate the deferral criteria that prevent homosexuals from donating blood. "We've gotten no feedback," she said.

Wieschaus said she hoped that there would have been more student interest in the meeting, which she and the other organizers publicized by putting up flyers around campus, but she said they will go ahead with their letter-writing campaign and a possible campus education component.

Bazarsky said that though the LGBT is not officially involved with the initiative, she will be "happy to give support and offer resources."