Date: 04/15/2008
Contact:
Pat Lopes Harris, 408-924-1748
SAN JOSE, Calif., -- Reaction to San José State University's decision to suspend all campus blood drives has reached the highest levels of government. U.S. Rep. Sam Farr sparred with the FDA on the science behind the agency's lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday, April 2. Also, U.S. Reps. Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren and Farr have issued a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking the agency to detail its efforts to update a 16-year-old ban on blood donations from gay men.
"I am pleased to receive support from the congressional delegation for Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties," said SJSU President Don W. Kassing. "However, San José State's campus blood drive suspension will remain in place. I remain steadfast in my belief that the FDA's lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men violates our non-discrimination policy. Our policy is much more than a regulation. It is an expression of values we all share, most notably our core belief that people must be treated as individuals, free of prejudice."
Farr has been concerned about the FDA lifetime blood donor deferral affecting gay men since the issue was raised in 2007 by a high school student in Santa Cruz. Farr and Honda have submitted language for the 2009 House Appropriations Bill that would require the FDA to revisit its blood donation policy so that it not only continues to emphasize a safe, clean blood supply but does so in such a way that defines deferrals based on behavioral risk and not only sexual orientation.
"In the past two decades, we’ve made great strides in ensuring our blood supply is safe, but our policies have not kept pace," Farr said. "Protests at the University of California- Santa Cruz and San José State have made it clear that this issue is not just about prejudice or preventing gay men from donating. It's about the FDA's refusal to evaluate a 16-year-old policy in light of dramatic scientific advances in blood testing."
"I am deeply disappointed that in this day and age, when the biotech field has a new breakthrough every other day, the FDA is stubbornly relying on decades-old blood-donor regulations," Honda said. "I'm confident FDA officials have the public's well-being first and foremost in their mind, but they should also realize their decisions have moral implications as well. Along with my alma mater, San José State, I strongly encourage the FDA to reevaluate the technologies available to them so we can expand the pool of eligible blood donors, increase our available blood supply, and continue to save people's lives in a morally and scientifically responsible manner."
Many more prominent Bay Area leaders have voiced support for San José State.
SJSU's blood drive suspension has also been covered by many student newspapers including those serving Boston University, Indiana University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the University of South Carolina and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The FDA deferral affecting gay men has long been an issue at high schools and colleges nationwide because blood banks depend on campus blood drives. Only about six percent of the U.S. general public donates blood annually, according to the FDA.
San José State -- Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 32,000 students and 5,700 employees -- is part of the California State University system. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city.
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