The Canadian Red Cross asks gay, bisexual, and all men who have sex with men not to donate blood

After it became clear that AIDS was transfusion-transmissible, the Canadian Red Cross advises people in high-risk groups, such as “promiscuous homosexual men”, Haitian immigrants, and drug users, not to donate blood. There is no questionnaire yet with a specific MSM criterion, but pamphlets are given to donors with information about risk groups in the hope of self-exclusion.

This aligns with the decision the CDC made in the United States in January banning men who had had sex with men since 1977 from donating blood.


Red Cross asks high risk groups not to donate blood

Reconsidering the lifetime deferral of blood donation by men who have sex with men