The FDA announced the policy on its Web site more than a year after the Red Cross and two other blood groups criticized the policy as "medically and scientifically unwarranted." The 1983 rule is designed to prevent the spread of HIV through transfusions.
However, the new FDA policy has been criticized by many blood donor groups who believe that improved tests, which can detect HIV-positive donors within just 10 to 21 days of infection, make the lifetime ban unnecessary.
AP quotes Dr. Celso Bianco, executive vice president of America's Blood Centers, whose members provide nearly half the nation's blood supply, as saying, "I am disappointed, I must confess."
Critics also added that FDA's ban also bars potential healthy donors, despite the increasing need for donated blood, and discriminates against gays. Apart from this, anyone who have ever used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex also is permanently barred from donating blood.
