American Red Cross calls for equal treatment for gay blood donors

At long last, common sense seems to be breaking out with regard to the donation of blood by gay men:

"The AABB [American Association of Blood Banks], ABC [America's Blood Centers] and ARC [American Red Cross] believe that the current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted and recommend that deferral criteria be modified and made compatible with criteria for other groups at increased risk for sexual transmission of transfusion-transmitted infections," the groups said in a joint statement issued at the conference (*).

(*) "Behavior-Based Blood Donor Deferrals in the Era of Nucleic Acid Testing", hosted by the US Food & Drug Administration.