BILL NUMBER: AJR 13 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2009
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
donor suitability and deferral policies of the federal Food and Drug
Administration regarding the donation of blood and blood products by
gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual males.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The California State Legislature encourages
nondiscrimination California law prohibits
discrimination against individuals on the basis of actual or
perceived sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and
expression gender identity, and gender-related
appearance and behavior ; 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 (FDA) donor deferral policy, first established in
1983, effectively prohibits blood donation by men who have had sex w
ith another man even one time since 1977; 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; 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, creates stigma
without any justifiable public health imperative, and results in
negative attitudes to blood donor eligibility 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; 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 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 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 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 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.