Madam, - I write in support of the call by the Union of Students in Ireland for a review by the Department of Health of the ban on blood donations from sexually active gay men. Given statistics showing that straight, sexually active people pose a higher risk than gay men in terms of HIV transmission, this ban is surely redundant, at best.
We live in a country that has a constant shortage of blood. There is no good reason for this ban, which keeps a large section of the population who wish to give blood from doing so. Internationally, it is accepted that this ban is unwarranted. Can the Minister for Health explain her position? - Yours, etc,
REBECCA MURPHY, Rosewood, Whitechurch, Co Cork.