Ban on Gay Men Donating Blood Repealed in Canada

Canadian health authorities have announced new rules making men who have not had sex with men in the past five years eligible to donate blood.

Under the previous regime, men who had sex with men since 1977, even once, were not allowed to donate.

Blood Donation - Overview
Blood donation is a process of any consenting adult voluntarily agreeing to have his/her blood drawn for medical use. Know more about blood donation and how you can become a volunteer..

The strict code was designed as a precaution against the spread of disease through blood transfusions, based on epidemiological data that showed a higher risk of transmitting HIV in, for example, men-to-men relations than through heterosexual or lesbian sex.

It has been modified at the request of the Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec as part of their licensing renewal to collect and distribute blood products in Canada.

In a submission to Health Canada, the blood operators demonstrated that they can detect disease-causing agents in blood donations through screening, and that therefore a total ban on gay men giving blood was unnecessary.

Blood Groups
The blood group of a person is determined by the presence or absence of certain inherited antigenic substances and certain acquired antibodies in blood.

Laurent McCutcheon, founder of a gay support center in Montreal, called the announcement "a step in the right direction" but said blood donors should be assessed solely based on risk factors, not abstinence.

Source-AFP

AIDS - Initial Theories and Disease Progression-Blood Test-Stages-FAQs
AIDS was first detected in early 1980s, among gays, Haitians and black Africans. HIV is a descendant of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus.