The FDA has expanded who can donate blood. This is why it’s urgently needed

ATLANTA — The American Red Cross has issued a call for help saying donations have dramatically dropped just as we head into to summer.

But soon additional people will be able to donate.

June is gay pride month, and the FDA has issued new guidance allowing gay men to contribute to the blood supply.

From the ‘96 Olympics bombing to the 9/11 attacks to the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando in 2016, mass casualty events are a modern reality.

Bringing Americans together to help however they can most commonly happen through blood drives.

Now, there’s a new opportunity for a population previously excluded from donating blood.

JB Gaskins: [00:08:45] “This opens a new avenue for people to help save lives,” said JB Gaskins, CEO of Blood Assurance.

The FDA recently eliminated decades-old restrictions put in place during the AIDS epidemic that prohibited blood donations by gay men and bisexual men.

“There was no test in the early 80s,” Gaskins said.

Channel 2′s Jorge Estevez met Gaskins recently at his office in Cartersville, where he explained that science and testing have vastly improved, and the FDA added “individual risk-based questions,” for screening.

The lifestyle questions are the same for every blood donor regardless of sexual orientation, gender, or sex.

Gay men who have had sex with a new partner, or more than one partner within the last three months will be asked to wait to donate blood.

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“In this case, they’re looking at this the right way. The risk-based behavior is probably what we should have always been looking at,” Gaskins said.

Those in a monogamous relationship will be allowed to donate, so long as they meet the other basic criteria for a safe donation.

One of the biggest challenges for blood centers across the country is identifying a potential HIV patient from the time they may contract the disease, not knowing to the time they sit in the chair to donate blood.

“The window factor is much smaller now than what it used to be, and sometimes it was six months at one point,” Gaskins said.

The window is the time from a potential infection to days later when you unknowingly donate blood, and they test positive, similar to the incubation period we all learned about during COVID-19.

Because of improved science, it has decreased, making for safer blood donations.

Lucas and David Artadi-Beno have been together for 15 years

“We want to do the right thing. We want to help everyone in this country by donating blood,” David Artadi-Beno said.

Estevez met the couple at a rehearsal for the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus.

They too are singing the praises of the government’s new recommendations, based on science.

“We also want to keep the blood supply safe for everyone so that HIV becomes a thing of the past,” David Artadi-Beno said.

Lucas Artadi-Beno is not only a doctor, but he understands the dire need for blood donors first-hand.

“I had cancer in med school. I had over 16 blood transfusions,” Lucas Artadi-Beno said. “If you don’t have enough, surgeries get canceled. There isn’t enough for trauma. There’s enough to keep people alive.”

A point echoed by Gaskins back at the donation center.

“Everybody thinks when the emergency occurs, I’ll just go donate blood,” Gaskins said. “If that blood’s not there. It’s too late for that person.”

The plea from Lucas Artadi-Beno who experienced blood donors’ lifesaving generosity?

“Put their arms out and give the blood that’s important to save other people’s lives,” Lucas Artadi-Beno said.

It is going to take some time for each donation center to get the new recommendations in place whether you’re gay, straight, male, or female and want to donate blood.

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