Image Credit: Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance easing restrictions on gay men donating blood.
After a 60-day public comment period, the rule is expected to take effect.
Gay men have in large part been prohibited from donating blood since the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, for fear of contaminating the U.S. blood supply with HIV. The FDA has been easing restrictions over time since.
The FDA is “proposing a change from time-based deferrals to assessing blood donor eligibility using gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV.” That is a change the government says is similar to practices in the United Kingdom and Canada.
“Whether it’s for someone involved in a car accident, or for an individual with a life-threatening illness, blood donations save lives every day,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D., said. “Maintaining a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S. is paramount for the FDA, and this proposal for an individual risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will enable us to continue using the best science to do so.”
New guidance proposes to eliminate time-based deferrals for “men who have sex with men” and women who have sex with those men.