Should gay men in Canada be allowed to donate blood?

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Why Canadian Gay Men Should Be Allowed To Donate Blood
Among the major reasons as to why gays are denied the right of donating blood is the assumption that the higher zero prevalence of HIV in this group of people will lead to infections that are related to blood transfusions. There are questions on whether these men should be allowed to donate their own blood as well as to define referral period based on the time of starting new relationships.
Under the current FDA regulations, persons who have ever had sex with the persons of the same sex are not expected to donate blood. These exemptions have resulted into a great shortage of blood in the bloodbanks. Further, the Men who are willing to save lives are stripped of opportunities of donating their blood disregarding the consideration of whether they had undertaken precautions or not. This practice could rightly be termed as discriminatory and results to decline for blood that could be used to save lives (Wainberg et al, 2010, p12).
In the present perspective, mechanisms to curb donation of infected blood from these groups of people are satisfactory to warrant safety precaution against the possibility of transfusing infected blood. The reason behind this argument is because, as blood services and agencies in Canada and other states accept blood from these people, they ask them to provide sufficient details related to their medical history, and or behaviours that may have precipitated the occurrence of ill effect in this blood.
The persons who are perceived as having risky blood are not considered for blood transfusion. Details that are in most cases required from these people to determine the risk include the use of injection for drugging, general exposure to infections, prostitution and gay sex (Nass , et al. 2005, 45:404-13).
The regulation in disallowing gays donating blood is based on a wrong assumption that these people were actively involved in regular sex. However, a 1992 US study established that 42% of the 9% of the population that had homosexual relationship did not continue to do so beyond 18 years. This means that the current policies pertaining to deferrals of blood donations among these people are highly misguided (Nass, et al. 2005, 45:404-13).
The main significance for collecting and distributing blood is generally to assist those who need them. Therefore, there is no need for these blood agencies and services to focus much of their attention on rights of individuals as this will be regarded as discrimination.
Consequently, Canadian Blood services and Hema Quebec argue that their discrimination against individuals in donating blood is meant to protect the integrity of the blood supply. However, as much as they would want to protect this integrity, the agencies and services have failed to provide us with alternative measures of ensuring the adequate supply of blood in our blood banks, wh...