FDA Panel Backs Gay Blood Donor Limits
From Times Wire Reports
A federal advisory committee, in a close vote, declined to support easing restrictions on blood donations from gay men, a policy criticized as discriminatory and outdated. Many members of the Food and Drug Administration panel said they would like to see a change in the policy, which was adopted to minimize risks of spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But the majority voted during a meeting in Gaithersburg, Md., that they did not have enough scientific evidence to back the FDA’s proposed revisions. Under FDA rules, men cannot give blood if they have had sex with another man at least once since 1977.
