Millions Of Lives Could Be Saved If Gay Men Could Donate Blood

If bisexual and gay men could donate blood, the United State’s blood supply would see a very significant increase. This could potentially save millions of lives.

A study from a California institute showed that if gay and bisexual men could donate blood, then the blood supply would increase by an extra 615,300 pints of blood a year.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood ever since 1983. This happened because it was found that HIV and AIDS could be transmitted through blood.

Ayako Miyashita and Gary J. estimated that with 615,300 extra pints of blood a year, it could save over 1.8 million lives.

“The American Red Cross suggests that each blood donation has the potential to be used in life-saving procedures on three individuals. Our estimates suggest that lifting the blood donation ban… could be used to help save the lives of more than 1.8 million people.”

They also did a study that suggested gay and bisexual men should be permitted to donate blood after one year or five years of sexual abstinence. If the policy allowed gay men with one year of sexual abstinence, then it could yield 317,000 pints of blood a year. With five years of sexual abstinence, it would yield almost 300,000 pints a year.

There has been a lot of pressure on the Food and Drug Administration as well as the Department of Health and Health Services to remove the ban that prohibits gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

The FDA has stated that it is still evaluating it’s policies, but it does not plan on lifting the ban until there is scientific proof that it won’t increase the risk of HIV/AIDS for patients.

“We applaud the critical contributions made by blood donors and we are sensitive to the concerns of potential donors and other individuals affected by current blood safety policies.”

In a recent Pew Research study, gay marriage support is supposedly declining. According to a recent Inquisitr report, there is speculation that this decline in support of gay marriage could be because of LGBT overreach.

It is reported that HIV/AIDS infection from blood donations is extremely rare now. Researchers say that it occurs every 1 in 1.5 million transfusions. The researchers said that lifting the ban that prevents gay and bisexual men from donating blood would increase the risk of infection by a “small, but not zero” chance.