Canada poised to partially lift ban on gay men giving blood
OTTAWA, Ontario, November 28, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian Blood Services ( CBS ) has revealed that it is about to exchange the lifetime ban on homosexuals donating blood for a deferral system. According to a plan submitted to Health Canada, men who have not had sex with other men for somewhere between five to ten years would be eligible to donate. CBS spokesman Ron Vezina told the Edmonton Journal that the organization is convinced that it has sufficient evidence to support a change from a permanent prohibition to a deferral. Canadian Red Cross had put the ban in place in 1983 after thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood. Criminal charges were laid against several doctors, blood products companies, and the Canadian Red Cross. The current blood prohibition states : “All men who have had sex with another man, even once, since 1977 are indefinitely deferred. This is based on current scientific knowledge and statist