This week I decided to give blood. It seems at lot has changed since the last time I “gave the gift of life”, as the Red Cross puts it. The reasons for rejecting donors seem even more endless than before. The checklist is over 40 questions long! First they gather my identity statistics. Then they stab me for my hemoglobin test; and then they ask me a battery of questions. It’s for good reason of course, and now I will never wonder why we have blood shortages all the time!
With a concerned look the Red Cross interviewer leaves the table with a huge manual and begins speaking with her supervisor. I wait hoping my blood was good enough for them. She returns with bad news. I am officially “differed indefinitely” from giving blood. It turns out in 1999 the FDA passed a regulation that sates the Red Cross can not accept blood from donors who have stayed in the United Kingdom for more than three months between the years of 1980-1996. The reason: Mad Cow’s disease!
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