Northern Irish minister challenged over gay blood donation claims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/18/northern-ireland-gay-blood-donation

Version 0 of 1.

Northern Ireland's health minister has been challenged to produce evidence for his claim that blood donations from gay men pose a health risk.

Edwin Poots caused further controversy over the gay blood row on Sunday when he also asserted that the ban on blood donations should extend to anyone having sex with prostitutes and anyone from the African continent.

The SDLP described Poots's latest claims as "confusing personal prejudice with prudent policy".

The Democratic Unionist minister maintains a ban on gay men giving blood even though all blood donations are screened for potential infections and diseases before being used for transfusions.

The South Belfast SDLP assembly member Conall McDevitt said the minister must produce evidence of his claims, which he said ran contrary to medical advice.

He said: "We are yet to see any significant evidence to support Poots's views. On the contrary, the prevailing opinion among UK medics is that there is no higher risk associated with the blood of gay men, hence the decision to reverse the ban in Britain. The minister is causing undue and unnecessary alarm, and yet contradicting himself, when just before Christmas he was content to ship in units of blood to Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, where there is no longer a ban."

McDevitt added: "Currently all blood donations are subject to rigorous screening for a number of diseases – including HIV – and no blood is used unless it is approved, regardless of the donor. The fact is that we are in constant need of extra blood stocks in the North and this reinforces the need for the government to do all in its power to encourage as many as possible to donate rather than seek to alienate healthy donors based on prejudice. The minister's comments perpetuate a tired mythology of cultural promiscuity in the gay community which troubles me as an advocate of a more accepting, shared society."