The findings of the independent Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues, and Organs are apparently leading to a policy change in terms of blood donation --- with news rules likely to take effect in some countries this November!

On the basis if the conclusions of the committee that science "no longer support[s] the permanent exclusion of men who have had sex with men," the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and a few other countries are lifting the lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with other men (MSM).

While the present rules do not allow MSM to donate blood because they supposedly are at a much greater risk of carrying a blood-borne virus, the new policy only imposes a one-year deferral period after any oral or anal sexual contact with a same-sex partner.

The policy change is based on the advisory committee's review of evidence on donor selection criteria. The review took into account the improvements in blood testing, monitoring from countries with shortened deferral periods, and the compliance of the donors with the ban.

Noting that "the existing theoretical models show that if we shorten the deferral period from lifetime to one or five years, we would see a small increase in HIV-infected blood collected," Dr. Greta Bauer - an epidemiologist at the University of Western Ontario - elaborated that "the real risk to the blood supply would be the erroneous releases of HIV-positive units from quarantine as a result of human error"!