WASHINGTON, May 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US Food and Drug Administration has banned sperm donation from sexually active gay donors, citing the HIV prevalence associated with sodomy.
“With an anonymous sperm donor, you can’t be too careful,” said FDA spokesman Eleanor Nicoll, according to a foxnews.com report. “Our concern is for the health of the recipient, not to let more and more people be sperm donors.”
Several clinics said they would continue to welcome gay donors despite the new FDA regulations, arguing that the new directive is “discriminatory.” Alameda, California’s, Rainbow Flag sperm bank director Leland Traiman, for example, said he would continue to solicit gay donors.
The FDA, in its guidelines, responds to arguments that the agency should simply screen donors for the HIV virus rather than reject donors for engaging in risky sexual practices. “In response to the comments suggesting that FDA should allow establishments to rely on HIV test results alone . . . without screening for risk factors, FDA rejects that approach at this time.”
The FDA explained that, even though there may be more sensitive techniques to test for HIV available in the future, even the best of tests will fail to measure the presence of HIV in early stages of the disease. “Accordingly, FDA believes that, based on the current state of testing and current knowledge about disease transmission, it is necessary to screen for risk factors as well as to test for diseases such as HIV.”
Read the FDA regulations (pdf).
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