Des Moines Register
03-06-07
Give blood, voice opposition
REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
Some Iowa State University students would punish the wrong people by
refusing to participate in a campus blood drive this week to make a political
statement on behalf of gay men.
Some members of the ISU Greek community chose the campus blood drive
during Greek Week to protest the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's longstanding policy of excluding men from donating blood if they have had
homosexual sex even once since 1977. The students have a point: The lifetime
ban is unfairly discriminatory and unnecessary given improved screening and
testing procedures, but the people who would pay the penalty are innocent
people who need blood to survive.
That is a real concern at a time when Iowa blood supplies are low because drives
were cancelled during last week's snowstorm. The ISU blood drive is one of the
largest student drives in the nation, and is expected to produce nearly 2,000 units
of blood. The difference of a few hundred units could be felt in hospitals across
the state.
Unlike in past years, when competing fraternities and sororities earned points for
the numbers of donations, the blood-drive contest won't be part of Greek Week.
This is short of a boycott - which has occurred on some other college campuses but any effort to discourages donations could hurt blood supplies in Iowa.
It's not as if no one is listening to concerns about the FDA donor rule. The
American Red Cross and local blood banks, including the Blood Bank of Iowa,
have urged that the FDA bar only men who have had sex with another male in
the previous year, because of concerns about HIV and AIDS.
So far, the FDA has not budged, but there's got to be a better way to register
opposition to an outdated policy on blood donors than denying the life-giving
blood donations.
The Blood Center of Iowa is offering a smart alternative: It is encouraging ISU
students who oppose the FDA policy to donate blood, but it is handing out cards
with information on how to contact the FDA to register their opposition.
Meanwhile, people who have no voice in that decision, but who have a huge
stake in a steady supply of safe blood, will thank them.