Quite annoyingly, the UK blood service has their information in the form of flash questions, but the IBTS guidelines appear to follow the same set of assumptions.
Also, not about homophobia specifically, but they also recently banned potential donors who spent more than a year in the UK between 1980 and 1996, the reason being they're trying to not to pollute the blood supply with vCJD. However, as another friend pointed out to me, acquiring vCJD wouldn't necessarily take as long as a year. My reply was that if they banned any contact with the UK, they could just as well close shop, given how many people living in Ireland make regular visits to the UK...
Crazy(and trying to detect a difference between appreciating the behavior vs. hiding behind a label...)Soph
... the US blood donation service rejects anyone that's spent three months in the UK.
I'm guessing that somewhere they have a mathematician (or crazy sooth sayer) that says "the odds of acquiring vCJD fit on this curve, at at the three month/twelve month point the odds go above some value we've picked as being too risky [(e.g. 0.1% or something)]"
I assume the same mathematician looks at other groupings of people (people who lived in Haiti, people who take lots of injections etc.) and decides from that the odds of a particular person carrying something ...
Yes, the key question is "You are a male who has ever had anal or oral sex with another male, even if a condom or other form of protection was used" - that resembles what I recollect of British blood transfusion questions.
I don't think it's just the U.K. they're asking about. I seem to remember a question if you had spent any time over the past 12 months outside the U.S., specifically Africa. I actually am unable to give blood - seems they don't like those of us with low iron counts and low blood sugar (not to mention low blood pressure!).
Something new in my area, which willsakai213June 15 2005, 10:44:20 UTC
increase my ability to donate more regularly, is babysitting services that are available while you (the parent) is strapped to the table. I used to donate more frequently in my 20's, then with pregnancy and nursing so many years I developed anemia, but now I'm all better :D and I'm with quietdarkness, Guiness? hehe sign me up oh something else popped into my head about Guiness...I have a neighbor of Irish descent who told me that her grandmother always told her to drink one glass of Guiness daily when nursing a child, until the child is weaned...
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Also, not about homophobia specifically, but they also recently banned potential donors who spent more than a year in the UK between 1980 and 1996, the reason being they're trying to not to pollute the blood supply with vCJD. However, as another friend pointed out to me, acquiring vCJD wouldn't necessarily take as long as a year. My reply was that if they banned any contact with the UK, they could just as well close shop, given how many people living in Ireland make regular visits to the UK...
Crazy(and trying to detect a difference between appreciating the behavior vs. hiding behind a label...)Soph
Reply
I'm guessing that somewhere they have a mathematician (or crazy sooth sayer) that says "the odds of acquiring vCJD fit on this curve, at at the three month/twelve month point the odds go above some value we've picked as being too risky [(e.g. 0.1% or something)]"
I assume the same mathematician looks at other groupings of people (people who lived in Haiti, people who take lots of injections etc.) and decides from that the odds of a particular person carrying something ...
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and I'm with quietdarkness, Guiness? hehe sign me up
oh something else popped into my head about Guiness...I have a neighbor of Irish descent who told me that her grandmother always told her to drink one glass of Guiness daily when nursing a child, until the child is weaned...
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