For the first time in 31 years a U.S. advisory panel recommended that some gay men should be allowed to donate blood.
In 1983 a policy was instated that banned gay men from donating blood because of increased concerns of transmitting the AIDS virus.
"HIV tests currently in use are highly accurate, but still cannot detect HIV 100 percent of the time," the FDA says on its website. "It is estimated that the HIV risk from a unit of blood has been reduced to about one per 2 million in the USA, almost exclusively from so-called 'window' period donations."
With this in mind, the U.S. advisory recommended to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that gay men who are abstinent for one year should be permitted to donate.
"I think blood collection organizations have all come out in favor of a one-year change," Debra Kessler, director of special donor services at the New York Blood Center, told Bloomberg.
Other countries - including the U.K., Australia and Canada - have policies that allow gay men to give blood if they are abstinent for a period of time, Bloomberg reported.
The FDA will consider the recommendation in a Dec. 2 meeting with members from the U.S. advisory panel.
The U.S. advisory panel's recommendation doesn't guarantee the ban would be lifted, but its word is considered influential.
"The FDA has repeatedly said that they are open to changing the policy, but have been awaiting the results of the HHS [Health and Human Services] studies that were presented today," the National Gay Blood Drive said to UPI. "While today was a big success, there is still a long road ahead. We must continue to increase pressure on HHS and FDA until discrimination based on sexual orientation is eliminated from the blood donation process altogether."
