Canadian Blood Services to end ‘blood ban,’ start behaviour-based screening

Canadian Blood Services says Health Canada approved its request to eliminate the current three-month blanket donor deferral period for men who have sex with men.

Now all donors will be screened, regardless of gender or sexuality, for high-risk sexual behaviours.

Under the new screening approach, Canadian Blood Services will use a sexual behaviour-based donor-screening questionnaire that will apply to all donors of blood and plasma.

It says starting no later than Sept. 30, potential donors will be asked if they have had new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months.

They will then be asked whether they have had anal sex with any of those partners and if they have, then they will need to wait three months since that activity before donating blood.

Health Canada said its authorization is based on an assessment of evidence supporting the safety of the revised donor screening.

To help inform its review, Health Canada assembled a group of scientific and medical experts in the field of blood safety for a one-day meeting, which took place April 13, to receive input on technical questions.

Over the past decade, Health Canada has approved several changes to the donor deferral period for men who have sex with men, from a lifetime restriction to five years in 2013, to one year in 2016 and to three months in 2019.