Want to help, after Orlando shooting? Here’s how

How safe is American blood?

As many people get ready for their summer vacations, Canadian Blood Services hopes they consider donating before leaving to support National Blood Donor Week. “It’s just a double tragedy”. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also offers recommendations on who shouldn’t donate blood.

“Current HIV blood tests are incredibly sensitive and accurate”.

Bonfils Blood Center has received inquiries from Coloradans wishing to assist in the response to the tragic shooting in Orlando.

The FDA implemented a lifetime ban of blood donations from gay and bisexual men in 1983 at the start of the AIDS epidemic, when little was known about the spread of the disease.

Under the latest rules, gay and bisexual men may donate blood, provided it has been 12 months since their last sexual encounter with another man.

On Monday, dozens of people also braved the Central Florida heat at the OneBlood office on West Michigan Avenue to give blood, while others with appointments were ushered into the blood bank.

Many hit back at the ban online, saying it’s easier to buy a gun than for a gay man to donate blood in the United States. A questionnaire handed out to all potential blood donors focuses on specific risky behaviors, including having unprotected sex and multiple partners, rather than homosexual activity.

Indeed, members of the LGBT community expressed anger over the federal guidelines that prohibited eligible donors from giving blood, contrasting the year-long wait time with the country’s lenient regulations surrounding the purchase of firearms.

Of the hundreds of people lining up around the block to donate blood to the victims of the Orlando shooting, one group was not required.

About two-thirds of all new HIV cases occur in men who have sex with men, a group that makes up only 2 percent of the total U.S. population, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “And with shortages of blood, common policies aligned with science could enable thousand now barred from donation to engage in this expression of social responsibility”.