Letter: Guidelines for donor eligibility necessary

Editor,

I am writing about the article "Gay men not allowed to give blood" in Tuesday's Daily Lobo. Marshall Martinez feels he was wrongly deferred from donating because of his sexual orientation. I urge him to check the Centers for Disease Control Web site, which shows that gay men represented at least 63 percent of new HIV cases in the United States in 2003.

United Blood Services does not discriminate against gays. A gay man who has never had sex is allowed to donate and lesbians also are allowed to donate because their lifestyle is not high risk. However, women who have had sex with a bisexual man are also permanently deferred. Their purpose in not allowing Martinez to donate was to protect the blood supply. They have a duty to ensure that the blood supply is safe.

Airth Locke is quoted in the Lobo article as saying, "As long as they test all the blood, it really shouldn't matter." United Blood Services tests each unit of blood before it is released for usage. However, the testing is for the eligibility determination and it is not 100 percent effective.

There are high costs involved in both money and time for United Blood Services to collect, prepare and screen each unit of blood. When one puts this into perspective, it is easy to see that United Blood Services cannot afford to take a unit of blood that has a higher probability of having to be destroyed.

In the end, United Blood Services is responsible for the well-being of the people who need its product and must follow the guidelines of the Food and Drug Administration. Can you imagine the legal liability they would face if someone was infected with HIV because United Blood Services did not do everything possible to prevent it? How do you think the infected person would feel?

I think most of the population would agree that it is better to be safe than sorry. I hope the article does not discourage eligible donors from donating. If there is a blood supply shortage, everyone suffers.

Kayla Chambers

UNM student