Bennet, Baldwin, Colleagues Call on FDA to Change Discriminatory Blood Donation Policies to Address National Blood Supply Shortage

Press Release

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and a group of their colleagues in a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock urging them to act on the most up to date science and update their discriminatory blood donor deferral policies for men who have sex with men (MSM). As the Red Cross declares its first-ever national blood shortage, with as much as one-quarter of hospital blood needs not currently being met, patient care is at risk. The FDA should take the long overdue step to remove the discriminatory policies, increasing the eligible blood donor base and helping address the crisis.

"In light of the nation's urgent blood supply crisis and to ensure that Americans have access to life-saving blood transfusions during the pandemic, we urge you to swiftly update your current blood donor deferral policies in favor of ones that are grounded in science, based on individualized risk factors, and allow all potentially eligible donors to do so free of stigma. We also request a briefing in the next 30 days on the agency's plan to update its MSM blood donation policies," wrote Bennet, Baldwin, and the senators.

In addition to decreasing the eligible donor base and depriving patients of needed blood, the current three month donor deferral blood donation policy for MSM unnecessarily stigmatizes and harms the LGBTQ+ community. Broad consensus among the medical community indicates that current scientific evidence does not support these discriminatory restrictions, and that a policy focused on individual risk assessment for all potential donors rather than an effective ban on gay and bisexual men would be far more appropriate.

In addition to Bennet and Baldwin, the letter is also signed by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Angus King (I-Maine), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

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