The Food and Drug Administration intends to implement a new policy recommending that sperm banks accept no sperm from men who have had sex with men in the last 5 years. Because sperm can be frozen over extended periods of time, banks have consistently tested for HIV and a plethora of other diseases for at least 6 months before use. Nevertheless, the FDA has chosen the rather obvious and stereptypical (if sticky) path of excluding gay men on the basis that they are at a higher HIV risk.
Leland Traiman, director of a clinic in Alameda, CA, that seeks gay sperm donors, had this to say: “Under these rules, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with HIV-positive prostitutes would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay man in a monogamous, safe-sex relationship is not OK unless he’s been celibate for five years.”
John Gibner, of Lambda Legal Defense, on NPR also notes that other high risk HIV groups, such as low-income indoviduals, prison populations, and certain races are not targeted currently by the FDA.
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Did you ever read all those ads in college newspapers for smart, pretty egg donors too? The whole thing scares me actually. Every time I got a report card I thought, hmm, now my ova would be worth 3000, now 4, now back to 3…
