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Potentially fatal 'gift'

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Published Date: 17 April 2008
It seems that Mr Rob McDowall, "a campaigner on gay rights" (your report, 15 April), is rather more concerned with his rights than he is with his responsibilities.
His desire to allow people in "at-risk groups" in society to donate blood blatantly ignores the potentially disastrous consequences of the use of blood products donated from such groups to extremely ill patients.

He may not be aware that we, as a nation, are not allowed to donate blood overseas as we are perceived to be a potential danger to their recipients of blood products due to the incidence of CJD in the UK. I would no more attempt to force another country to accept my blood than I think Mr McDowall should be able to force the blood of gay and bisexual people on patients in this country.

Far from giving them "the gift of life", as he describes it, it may be the gift of any one of a number of potentially fatal illnesses, of which CJD and HIV are only two.

ANDREW HN GRAY
Craiglea Drive
Edinburgh





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  • Last Updated: 16 April 2008 8:13 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Beth Boyle,

NY 17/04/2008 05:07:03
No one wants to be unkind. The problem is HIV does not always show up in screenings when someone is newly infected so it is possible that a blood donor could think they were clean and pass on the virus before it showed up in testing. Why take the risk?
2

Mikey,

17/04/2008 07:08:57
Do heterosexuals like myself not get AIDS?
3

Beth Boyle,

USA 17/04/2008 09:10:00
Sure Mikey but the risks are much higher for Gay men because of the types of sexual activity they ingage in. It's not nice to think about but any activity where there is blood increases the risk by a large ammount.
4

Beth Boyle,

nY 17/04/2008 09:13:13
Hey Dave from Barra! How did Murdo work out as a tup this spring? My lambs are all on the ground and my Murdo is a keeper. I love my Blackie lambs from this year. To see my sheep go to hillshepherd.blogspot.com
Look down through the entries you can see some of my lambs.
5

Miss H,

17/04/2008 10:10:30
It's not gay and bisexual people - it's men. Gay women are OK apparently.
6

Janet Gibbs,

London 17/04/2008 13:56:47
Dave from Barra is right about its being a statistical matter. There's no reliable test. If we can't precisely identify those who's blood is actually infectious, the only way to guarantee no transmission at all is not to do any transfusion at all. The next best thing is to find a strategy that eliminates as many infectious donations as possible, whilst at the same time cutting out as few non-infectious donations as possible. It just happens that gay men fit those criteria, for HIV, better than anyone else - not a question of 'picking on' gay men, just an unfortunate fact of life.

No-one has the 'right' to give blood, it's a privilege that we can 'do something special today' (as the advert used to go). I gave up donating when I realised that I was wasting NBTS' time and resources, because more often than not my blood was too low in iron so they wouldn't take it. Not my fault, nor theirs, just a fact of life. More seriously, because of CJD transmission, everyone who ever receives a blood transfusion is automatically disqualified from donating - these are, historically, the service's most loyal donors but, sadly, they are the group that best fits the criteria for protecting against CJD transmission. So sorry, folks, we'll just have to find a different way to feel good about ourselves.
7

bill-alba,

fife 17/04/2008 14:36:32
wouldnt a bit of paper saying that the person had a negative HIV result be a method of allowing all people to give blood??
8

Geomac 1,

Kinross 17/04/2008 16:34:29
I would rather put my trust in medical experts than in those using emotion to increase their "rights"
9

Beth Boyle,

NY 17/04/2008 20:16:15
#8, that is the problem you can be positive and not show up for a long time as the test reacts to the antibodies your body makes. A piece of paper would not do it you can infect people before you know you have HIV because of the delay before you have made anitbodies. With all the over taxed medical problems today I want no increased risk on anything and this would certainly increase the risk of infection.
10

Beth Boyle,

NY 17/04/2008 20:19:16
#6 yes because its the blood contact that really increases risk. Gay ladies are not a problem it seems.
11

benshuan,

NewYork 18/04/2008 03:51:00
it is crazy how heterosexuals say that we are weird and odd and that the reason why H.I.V. is spreading is because of us. they even say that homosexuals give off H.I.V. all of the time. But in fact heterosexuals (straight people) have the highest rate of H.I.V. causes than any other sexuality. (that is a real fact) and they call us extremely promiscuous how ironic is that.
bisexual http://FindBilover.com

 

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