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Donate blood, then clog your arteries
By adamg on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 2:10pm
The first 80 people who donate blood on Thursday at Mass. General get a free lunch provided by Redbones Barbecue of Somerville.
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Comments
At least they're taking the blood
before they're serving the food.
"Take blood, you'll see. Half hemoglobin, half barbecue sauce."
Hawkeye Pierce
CDC Blood Rules
It has always pissed me off that the CDC does not allow men who have sex with men to donate blood.
I started donating 2-3 pints a year since I was 16yrs old. But after the AIDS hysteria of the early '80s (and new CDC rules), I had to cease donations in my early 20s. I am now 48 and don't have HIV, yet the CDC & Red Cross still don't want my blood. Their loss and my loss as a responsible citizen.
Can't you... lie? It's a
Can't you... lie?
It's a silly rule, and silly rules should always be broken. ~Ancient Boston Proverb
Because the Boston culture of casual criminality sucks ass
You don't go lying when it comes to medical safety of others that is outside your visibility and expertise.
You also don't turn it into a game in which someone might have some rule you oppose and they *want* you to lie, so that they can have their cake and eat it to. Pressure them to change the rules, if the rules are dumb, by not giving them the delicious blood they crave.
Their propagation of the idea
Their propagation of the idea of HIV as a problem primarily of the gay community spreads further, unfortunately: Not only are men who have slept with men since 1977 (I believe it's 1977, I may be off a year or two) banned from ever donating blood despite their status and precautions against infection they may have taken, but *anyone* who has slept with a man who has had sex with another male since 1977 cannot donate blood until one year after the last contact. It doesn't matter if the male/male sex happened between two men who knew their status as negative, used protection anyway. Doesn't matter if the female/male sex happened after the male was again tested, and condoms were used.
blood blood buckets of blood
Well that's interesting. There's a ban on accepting blood from people who have visited malarial zones (tropics) even if you've had no malaria symptoms. That ban lapses after so many years after you've been there, so it appears they're able to properly gauge risk in that situation.