Why does the Australian Red Cross Blood Service not accept donations from men who have had sex with men (gay and bi-sexual men)?
State and Territory legislation and requirements of the Code of Good Manufacturing Practice for Human Blood and Tissues mandate donor selection on the basis of certain risk behaviours. The exclusion of men who have had sex with men in the past 12 months is based on the statistically higher incidence of some blood borne diseases amongst such groups, and on the existence of ‘window period’ infections. In this context, the ‘window period’ is the time between contraction of a disease and the capacity of testing to detect it in the human body. Such deferrals are in accordance with international practice. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is motivated only by the requirement to supply the safest possible blood to the Australian community. There is no other judgement being made, and we urge all who are precluded from participating as blood donors to consider other ways of serving the community through voluntary activity with the Australian Red Cross.
