Health Canada authorized, on Thursday, Héma-Québec’s request to relax the rules surrounding plasma donation for men who have had sex with other men.
This decision will allow Héma-Québec to adopt an approach of exclusion of all plasma donors with high-risk sexual behaviors, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, rather than imposing a waiting period. three-month abstinence for gay or bisexual men.
“The safety of people who receive blood or blood plasma donations remains Health Canada’s top priority. (…) Health Canada carefully reviews regulatory submissions to ensure that any changes are based on sound scientific evidence and meet Canada’s high safety standards,” Health Canada said.
“Héma-Québec’s request includes scientific information and modeling data in support of the modification of the donor selection criteria. Donated blood plasma undergoes screening tests and other processing steps, including multiple pathogen inactivation steps, to greatly reduce the risk of contamination from infectious pathogens. federal.
Héma-Québec indicated that the implementation of more flexible blood plasma donor selection criteria could later lead to a request to modify the exclusion criteria “for all types of blood donations”.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com