HOBART, August 13, 2008  –  Two bio-ethicists today addressed the inquiry underway in Tasmania into gay blood donation.

Dr Scott Halpern and Dr Lesley Cannold gave evidence to the Anti- Discrimination Tribunal about ethical and epidemiological issues at stake in the case, including the right of potential blood recipients to a plentiful and safe blood supply and the onus of proof on the Red Cross to justify its gay exclusion policy.

Dr Halpern, who is a bio-ethicist and epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania and a consultant to the US Centre for Disease Control and the US Food and Drug Administration, put the claims of the Red Cross about “increased risk” from blood donation from gay men in perspective.

He noted that blood older than 15 days (which comprises at least 13% of the Australian supply) poses a risk of mortality “thousands of times greater” than the very worst predictions of HIV infection stemming from unsafe male-to-male sex.

Dr Cannold, a lecturer and researcher in bio-ethics at Melbourne and Monash Universities, labelled the epidemiological case put forward by some Red Cross witnesses “a straw man” because it assesses the risk associated with allowing all men who have sex with men to donate without taking into account a bar on those who have unsafe sex.

The gay blood donation case, instigated by Launceston man, Michael Cain, began last Thursday and will continue until the end of this month.

Mr Cain is seeking a blood donation policy which screens donors for the safety of their sexual activity rather than the gender of their sexual partner.

The next witness will appear on Friday and further witnesses for both sides will appear next week.

SEE ALSO

HIV Infection From Gay Blood Donation Likely “Once Every 5769 Years”.  The Tribunal hearing a case against the Australian Red Cross gay blood ban has been told today that if the current bar on gay blood donation is lifted, a single HIV-positive blood donation from a gay man will slip through clinical screening in Tasmania once every 197 years.  (UK Gay News, August 15, 2008)

Tasmanian ‘Gay Blood’ Inquiry Hears that Safe Sex Works.  An inquiry into the current ban on gay blood donation has heard that safe sex is effective in reducing HIV risk.  Social researcher, Associate Professor Anne Mitchell, today told the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal that risky sexual activity is not as widespread amongst gay and bisexual men as some studies suggest.  Full witness statement of Prof. Anne Mitchell. (UK Gay News, August 12, 2008)

Gay Blood Ban Hearing: Red Cross Accused of “Scare Tactics”.   Gay activists have accused the Red Cross of scare tactics on the first day of a hearing into Australia’s gay blood ban, in Hobart today.  (UK Gay News, August 7, 2008)

Groundbreaking Gay Blood Ban Case Starts Thursday.  The first full hearing in a groundbreaking gay blood ban case begins in Hobart, Tasmania, on Thursday before the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal.  (UK Gay News, August 5, 2008)

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Posted: 13 August 2008 at 11:00 (UK time)