Word: fda
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...FDA prefers not to describe its policy so crudely, of course, and instead emphasizes the particular “high-risk” behavior in which gay men engage. The word “gay” appears nowhere on donation questionnaires, and the FDA’s published studies refer only to MSMs—”men who have had sex with men.” If accused of bigotry, the FDA can boast that it gladly accepts donations from lesbians and from male virgins of all persuasions...
...glaring inconsistencies within its safety guidelines reveal a homophobia that the FDA vigorously denies. If a man and a woman have sex with the same gay man, for example, the woman may donate blood again after 12 months while both men are barred permanently. More puzzling still, heterosexual sex with an HIV-positive partner only precludes donation for a year; even the most bizarre risk calculus would deem this more dangerous than sex between HIV-negative...
...FDA denies that stereotypes have influenced its policies, of course, and it seeks refuge from critics behind a veil of statistics. After all, studies show that HIV incidence remains much higher among gay men, even though prevalence among heterosexual males has risen dramatically in the past decade. The CDC reports that in the year 2000, gay men accounted for the majority of reported HIV infections among male adolescents and young adults in America, even though gay men make up less than 10 percent of the population by most estimates...
These figures suggest that sexual orientation may deserve limited consideration in risk analyses, but they do not explain why the FDA has allowed a residue of homophobia to remain on its policies for 17 years. In Sept. 2000, the FDA narrowly rejected proposals that would have reduced the abstinence period required of gay men to either one or five years. About half of the nation’s blood banks publicly supported a one-year rule, which would have lead to 112,000 new donors, according to FDA estimates...
...FDA Medical Officer Andrew I. Dayton insists that the decision was based solely on a scientific analysis of safety, which concluded that evidence supporting reform “was not forthcoming.” In a study Dayton presented before the deciding committee, he estimated that a one-year abstinence rule would introduce about 30 percent more infected blood into the supply ever year, putting up to three more blood recipients at risk of contracting HIV. “We [the FDA] are very sensitive to people’s feelings that they are being discriminated against...