The Food and Drug Administration is changing its 32-year-old rule prohibiting gay and bisexual men from donating blood, according to NPR.
The FDA disclosed a new policy Monday that will replace the lifetime ban. Gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood if they have not had sexual contact with another man for at least one year, according to the report.
"Relying on sound scientific evidence, we've taken great care to ensure the revised policy continues to protect our blood supply," said Peter Marks, deputy director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, according to NPR.
The FDA banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood in 1983 as a means of preventing infection people who receive blood transfusions with HIV. Gay rights advocates and many medical groups have been pressing the administration to rescind the ban, arguing the policy discriminates against gay and bisexual men unnecessarily since blood donors can be screened for HIV. They also argue the ban perpetuates the stigma that HIV is a gay disease.
Advocates of the FDA ban say people infected with HIV or AIDS can fall through the screening process undetected, as blood tests might test negative for roughly nine days after a person is infected with the virus.
Mr. Marks said the administration weighed both sides' arguments before deciding to finalize the policy change it proposed last year.