The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service is adamant about maintaining its ban on donations from men having sex with men.

Sweden has recently loosened restrictions on gay blood donations. As of March, gays will be able to give blood but only if they haven’t had gay sex for a year.

In Finland, as in much of the rest of Europe, a single sexual act between two men remains enough to permanently disqualify them both from ever donating blood.

Dr Susanne Ekblom-Kulberg, of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, explained the thinking behind the policy.

‘We don’t ask whether people have had safe sex or not. It’s just sex between men. This has a long history, going back to the 1980s, when it was discovered that HIV was much more prevalent amongst the gay population. There is more of a risk, so if a man has ever had anal sex or oral sex with a man then he cannot give blood.’ Sex between men still carries an elevated risk for HIV infection compared to that in the general population."

‘However, this policy is constantly being debated and evaluated. Now Sweden has decided to allow men who have had sex with men to give blood when at least one year has lapsed from the last men to men sex contact. According to a recent survey in 2009 by the European Blood Alliance (EBA) sex between men still leads to a permanent deferral from blood donation in most other European countries but in Spain, Italia and Latvia, with a policy of temprary deferral.`

She added that lesbians can give blood because there is not a increased incidence of HIV amongs lesbians.

1. 12-01-2010 19:08

Written by Henna

I think so

Certainly I do not discriminate against gays. They may have their own personal life. However I strongly agree that blood donations must strictly be banned from gays. 
 
Beside some serious diseases such as HIV, it is very dangerous if unnatural genetic codes of gays are transferred to other people.

2. 12-01-2010 19:52

Written by Andy Crofts

Am I therefore labelled?

I cannot give blood in Finland. Ever. 
No, I'm not 'gay' but because I lived in Britain. 
(Quote from http://veripalvelu.fi/www/652) 
"•Living in Britain for over six months between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1996 prevents blood donation permanently (risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which is the human form of BSE or 'mad cow disease'). So, if I try to explain to someone why I can't donate, what will they believe??? 
I tried to appeal, suggesting that I'm not a 'mad cow' - my girlfriend might be.. (she laughed). Personally, I think I'm a squirrel, but that didn't seem to help - although I got an amusing response from veripalvelu.fi addressed to "Dear Mr. Squirrel"

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