It's amazing the Kafkaesque rules that have evolved about blood donation. The article does touch on them.
I'm not allowed to donate blood (any more), for what I think is an absurd reason. I spent a few months in England, over 30 years ago. So now the USA is afraid that any blood I donate will infect America with Mad Cow disease.
If those same rules were applied in the UK, nobody there would be able to give blood. The actual Red Cross text is:
You are not eligible to donate if:
From January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996,
you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time
of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK),
... [1]
Those same rules go on to ban all of Europe from donating blood:
You spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of
5 years or more from January 1, 1980, to present,
in any combination of country(ies) in Europe, ...
I did get my "gallon pin", which they give out after 8 donations, before the rules were changed. So there could be quite a few vCJD infected people wandering around the USA because of me.
Given the litigious environment in the USA, I understand why the Red Cross has these rules. But it doesn't make sense from a scientific point of view.
The problem boils down to the fact that there is currently no way to test your blood for blood donating purposes, especially if you're asymptomatic.
I mean, there's this disease, and it kills people, and is known that blood transfusions can infect people and we don't have a test for it. What would you have the Red Cross do?
I understand that the US Red Cross is in a difficult position. But the health authorities in the UK (who are presumably "closer" to the situation) don't have the same restrictions. Of course that might be simple expediency, since by the US rules nobody in the UK could donate.
I'm not allowed to donate blood (any more), for what I think is an absurd reason. I spent a few months in England, over 30 years ago. So now the USA is afraid that any blood I donate will infect America with Mad Cow disease.
If those same rules were applied in the UK, nobody there would be able to give blood. The actual Red Cross text is:
Those same rules go on to ban all of Europe from donating blood: I did get my "gallon pin", which they give out after 8 donations, before the rules were changed. So there could be quite a few vCJD infected people wandering around the USA because of me.Given the litigious environment in the USA, I understand why the Red Cross has these rules. But it doesn't make sense from a scientific point of view.
[1] http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requ...