BILL NUMBER: AJR 13	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 17, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ammiano

                        APRIL 2, 2009

   Relative to blood donation.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 13, as amended, Ammiano. Blood donation.
   This measure would request that the President of the United States
encourage, and that the Secretary of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services adopt, policies that repeal the current
 discriminatory   donor suitability and deferral
 policies of the  FDA   federal Food and
Drug Administration  regarding  blood   the
 donation  of   blood and blood products  by
gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual males.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The California State Legislature encourages
nondiscrimination against individuals on the basis of actual or
perceived sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and
expression; and
   WHEREAS, The American Red Cross (ARC) has joined the American
Association for Blood Banks (AABB) and America's Blood Centers (ABC)
in asking for guidelines that treat all donors equally; and
   WHEREAS, The current federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
policy, passed in 1985, prohibits any man who has had sex with
another man since 1977 from donating blood for the rest of his life;
and
    WHEREAS, The American Medical Association (AMA) House of
Delegates and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), within the
Infectious Disease Society of America, have requested that the FDA
abandon these current donor policies in favor of policies consistent
with sound science; and 
   WHEREAS, The AABB, ABC, and ARC, on March 9, 2006, at the Blood
Products Advisory Committee of the FDA, at a workshop titled
"Behavior-Based Blood Donors Deferrals in the Era of Nucleic Acid
Testing (NAT)," issued a joint statement affirming that they believe
that the current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with
other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted and recommended
that the deferral criteria be modified and made comparable with
criteria for other groups at increased risk for sexual transmission
of  transfusion-transmitted infections. Blood donors who are
judged to be at risk of exposure via heterosexual routes are deferred
for one year, while men who have had sex with another man even once
since 1977 are permanently deferred; and  
transfusion-transmitted infections; and 
   WHEREAS, It does not appear rational to broadly differentiate
sexual transmission via  responsible  male-to-male sexual
activity from transmission via  responsible  heterosexual
activity on scientific grounds. To many, this differentiation is
unfair  and discriminatory, resulting   ,
creates stigma without any justifiable public health imperative, and
results  in negative attitudes to blood donor eligibility
 criteria, blood collection facilities, and, in some cases,
to the cancellation of blood drives. The AABB, ABC, and ARC think
that the FDA should consider that the permanent deferral standard,
which is seen as scientifically marginal and unfair or discriminatory
by individuals with the identified characteristic, may motivate
those individuals to actively ignore the prohibition and provide
blood collection facilities with less accurate information; and
  criteria and blood collection facilities; and 
   WHEREAS, Blood banks in the United States routinely operate with a
short blood supply. After significant disasters or national
emergencies, the AABB, ABC, and ARC have each reported regions
operating with less than two days supply of  blood. Every
day, cancer patients, people with hemophilia, and others who need
regular blood transfusions rely on a readily available supply of
blood. During a crisis, the ability to collect blood in the affected
region is compromised while the need increases. The resulting
shortage could lead to catastrophic results; and  
blood; and 
    WHEREAS, Many men who have sex with men are healthy, do not
present a risk of introducing a transfusion transmissible infection
such as HIV into the nation's blood supply, and wish to be donors
without compromising the safety or reliability of the supply. These
men wish to join their neighbors in expression of a common altruistic
form of civic engagement; and
   WHEREAS, The AABB, ABC,  AMA, HIVMA,  and ARC acknowledge
the  concern that relaxation of deferral criteria may
increase the number of presenting donors who are HIV positive.
However, this impact has not been measured directly, it has only been
modeled using what may be incomplete assumptions.  
concern that a hasty relaxation of deferral criteria may add
uncertainty to protection of the blood supply unless reliable data is
available to avoid that result.  The blood collectors are
willing to assist in collecting data regarding the actual impact of
changes in the deferral, in order to allow for informed
decisionmaking, and for the development of additional, appropriate
interventions to ameliorate the impact; and
    WHEREAS, Technological advances such as individual NAT,
pathogen inactivation, or added means of screening hold promise to
substantially reduce the risk that transfusion transmissible
infections from all donors, including men who have had sex with men,
could be introduced into the blood supply, and federal advisory
committees have encouraged the FDA to develop these technologies
further; and 
   WHEREAS, In summary, the AABB, ABC,  AMA, HIVMA,  and ARC
believe that the deferral period for men who have had sex with other
men should be modified  to be consistent with deferrals for
those judged to be at risk of infection via heterosexual routes
 and that this consideration should also be extended to
donors of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based
products; and
   WHEREAS, FDA guidelines followed by blood banks throughout the
United States inadvertently  discriminate against 
 create unjustified stigma directed towards  gay, bisexual,
transgender, and heterosexual males on the basis that they have had
sex with another male since 1977; and
   WHEREAS, The AABB, ABC, and ARC are required to follow the FDA
guidelines, which consequently are in conflict with state
nondiscrimination policies; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the California State Legislature calls upon
the President of the United States to encourage, and the Secretary
of the United States Department of Health and Human Services to
adopt, policies that repeal the current  discriminatory
  donor suitability and deferral  policies of the
FDA regarding blood donation by men who have had sex with other men
 and, instead, direct the FDA to develop science based policies
consistent with the history described in this resolution  ; and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health
and Human Services, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.