Blood Services to recommend ending ban on donations from gay men
Global News
Canadian Blood Services says it plans to submit its recommendation to end the gay blood ban to Health Canada within the next two weeks.
Male blood donors will no longer be asked if they have had sex with another man, but, along with women, will be asked in future if they have had multiple sexual partners and anal sex.
Canadian Blood Services says it plans to submit its recommendation to end the gay blood ban to Health Canada within the next two weeks.
Dr. Isra Levy, Blood Services’ vice-president of medical affairs, said at the organization’s board meeting Friday that its submission will say sexual behaviour, not sexual orientation, determines risk of transmission of HIV.
Levy said it will recommend that men giving blood no longer be asked during the screening process if they’ve had sex with another man.
“If the submission is approved we will be able to focus the donor screening on high-risk sexual behaviour. Specifically, the change would allow us to stop asking men if they have had sex with … any other man,” he said.
The evidence was now “overwhelming that this change … will not compromise safety in any way,” he said.
The blood service said it had safety evidence from risk modelling, its own research program and international research, including from the United Kingdom.
He said the Canadian blood service had been in weekly contact with the U.K. blood service, which has already ended its gay blood ban.
In one notable case, a Toronto lawyer is facing a criminal contempt of court proceeding after including cases invented by ChatGPT in her submissions earlier this year.
Crude oil prices will hover around US$58. per barrel in 2026, according to the latest energy price forecast from consulting firm Deloitte.
The pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month, a boon to Novo Nordisk as it looks to regain ground lost to U.S. rival Eli Lilly.
More water restrictions will be part of the 'new reality of water usage' warned Mayor Jeromy Farkas, as the city provided an update Monday on the rupture of a major water main.
'This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,' Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
To date, there have been six confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease in B.C. after it was first detected in B.C.'s Kootenay region in 2024.
In the week ending Dec. 20, one in four (25.6 per cent) of every influenza test conducted in the U.S. came back positive, the U.S. CDC said.
As of Dec. 29, Health Canada had received nine submissions seeking approval to make semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation says Highway 16 linking Prince Rupert to communities in the east including Terrace has been shut in both directions due to flooding.
Time blindness has sparked a social media debate: Where is the line between a genuine condition and someone who is disorganized or just plain rude?