This petition is dedicated to increasing the number of individuals who are eligible to donate blood. In 1983, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created a donor deferral policy that excludes men who have had sex with men (MSM) since 1977 from donating blood for life. This policy was put into place because early in the epidemic, blood safety officials at the FDA decided to exclude from blood donations those emerging as the first "risk groups" for the new illness that we now know of as HIV/AIDS, and MSM were the first group of individuals associated with the disease. Based on advances in HIV testing and knowledge of the disease and its transmission, in March 2006, the Red Cross, AABB (the international blood association), and America's Blood Centers proposed replacing the lifetime ban with a one year deferral after male-to-male sexual contact. The group reported that new and improved tests, which can detect HIV positive donors within 12 days of infection, make the lifetime ban unnecessary. The proposal was denied.

While great advances have been made in HIV testing and as standard procedure all donations are screened for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis and other factors, the FDA continues to ban all MSM from donating blood.

By signing this petition, I support the change in Food and Drug Administration's Blood Donor Policy to allow eligible men who have sex with men to donate blood and save millions of lives.

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