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Health Canada lifts ban on thousands of British, Irish and French people giving blood

Thousands of people from the UK, France and Ireland will soon be able to give blood in Canada after a major change to the rules governing donations.

Canadian Blood Services said Health Canada has approved the “long-awaited” lifting of a donation ban on people who spent time in any of the three countries during the 1980s and 1990s.

The blood bank believes the change could result in thousands of much-needed new blood and plasma donors.

Those who are newly eligible to donate will be able to book an appointment from Dec. 4.

The ban was put in place in the late 1990s as a precaution during an outbreak of mad cow disease in the UK.

Mad cow disease is believed to be linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which affects the human brain. Scientists think it could be spread by blood transfers.

<who> Photo credit: 123RF

But Canadian Blood Services said new methods for assessing blood, alongside decades of study, have removed the need for the blood donation ban, emphasizing that the move “will not lead to an increase in [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease].”

"We continuously review available research, advances in blood testing and manufacturing and guidance from blood operators around the world to assess and update donor screening criteria and help ensure continual improvement in blood safety and availability," said Dr. Aditi Khandelwal, medical officer at Canadian Blood Services.

“Learnings from nearly 30 years of [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease] surveillance and improved understanding of this illness as well as a comprehensive risk modelling exercise specific to Canada has found that the criteria can now be removed.”

A similar ban on people who had lived in Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein was lifted in February 2022.

The US, Australia and Israel have all removed bans on donors from the UK, France and Ireland over the last two years.

“Our data tells us that since 2003 approximately 70,000 people in Canada tried to donate, but were not able to because of this criteria,” said Ron Vezina, vice president of public affairs at Canadian Blood Services.

“Twenty years later, we hope those who are still able to do so will come back to visit our donor centres after December 4. Now your time there means you can make all the difference here.”

Canadian Blood Services said it needs 100,000 new donors every year to keep blood stocks at a healthy level.

Vezina added: “The need for blood and plasma never stops.”

To book an appointment, head here.

Are you one of the thousands of people now eligible to donate blood in Canada? If so, get in touch with NowMedia at news@nowmediagroup.ca – we'd love to hear from you.



Send your comments, news tips, typos, letter to the editor, photos and videos to news@KamloopsNow.com.




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