Canadian Blood Services asks Health Canada to drop ban on gay blood donation
Global News
Canadian Blood Services is asking Health Canada to remove specific restrictions on blood donations from men who have sex with men, and change the donation criteria.
Canadian Blood Services has officially asked Health Canada to drop specific restrictions on blood donations from men who have sex with men, the organization confirmed Wednesday.
Currently, men are eligible to donate blood if it’s been more than three months since their last sexual contact with a man, according to their website.
With the new guidelines, the organization wrote, “Canadian Blood Services’ goal is to stop asking men if they’ve had sex with another man and instead focus on high-risk sexual behaviour among all donors.”
Canadian Blood Services did not immediately specify what its proposed new criteria would include.
All changes to the donation criteria must be approved by Health Canada.
An interim measure that allowed gay men to donate plasma at some clinics was approved in September. At that time, Canadian Blood Services told Global News that this program was not intended to be permanent, as they hoped that broader permission for gay donors would soon be granted.
Canadian Blood Services first announced its intention to change donation criteria in June 2021.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced during the last federal election that a change was imminent on this issue.