Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St.
Lux encouraged listeners to contact their congressional representatives if they are interested in taking action, and he said they could reach out to him at ImpactLife for more information on how to help. And I've really taken a stand and said, ‘We need to change this,’ more so than I did the first 25 years I was in the industry.” “I've really been having this conversation with several different people within the industry and outside of the industry. And I've been doing it for a long time,” he said. “I know so much more about it than somebody who doesn't work in the industry. Lux said he is affected by the ban, and in recent years, it’s felt like an issue he can’t ignore any longer. And I would do an on-the-spot HIV check if it was necessary to be able to give that resource.” “I feel that being able to get blood is a lifesaving resource. The caller added that he would have no problem facing more intrusive screening questions before giving blood, if it meant he’d be able to donate. “And I feel like there's a disconnect between being trusted to protect my country and being trusted to provide a lifesaving resource.”
But we're still restricted from giving blood,” he said. I've been able to openly serve in the military as gay since 2011. “My partner and I have been together since 2015. Louis resident serving at Scott Air Force Base, has been frustrated about being unable to donate blood. But what is the activity? And how risky has it been?”Ī caller shared his experience with being denied the ability to donate blood. “What we could do is measure that person's individual risk, evaluate how risky their activity has been,” he said, “not how they identify sexually. Lux added that sexual activity should be a part of the screening process for anyone looking to donate blood, regardless of their sexuality. “But a man who has sex with the same man that he's been with, for one year, two years, five years, 10 years, cannot donate unless the two of them do not have sex for three months.” We don't even ask that question,” he said. “A man could go out and have sex with several different women and come in and donate. Lux also pointed out that the regulations hold men who have sex with men to a different standard of safe sexual activity than other adults. “So that's really what can drive this change.” I mean, right now, the testing that we do, you could be exposed to HIV and test positive within days after that exposure,” Lux said. “Testing has improved so much since 1983. The HIV virus is better understood now, and blood can be tested quickly. Louis on the Air that while the regulations around blood donations made sense in the early ‘80s, there’s not much reason for them anymore. Pete Lux, vice president of donor and patient services at ImpactLife, said on Thursday’s St. Louis hospitals, is advocating for new guidelines around sexual activity and blood donation.
ImpactLife, a blood donation organization based in Iowa that provides 40% of all blood transfused in St. Now, a Midwestern organization hopes to change the FDA’s rules to better reflect modern realities. Then, in 2015, it was changed to a yearlong celibacy period, and in 2020 that was shortened to three months. Fueled by fear of the AIDS crisis, the ban was in effect for more than three decades. In 1983, the FDA put a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men.