(Belga) PS deputy Christophe Lacroix announced Thursday in the Chamber that the socialist parties PS and Vooruit were tabling a new bill aimed at authorizing blood donation for homosexual and bisexual men (MSM).
“Indeed, techniques for detecting communicable diseases have evolved and various European and international bodies, including the Court of Justice of the European Union, have highlighted the unjustified nature of these exclusions. Last November, the High Council of Health himself considered that it was quite possible to reduce this period of exclusion to four months”, indicated the deputy, thus justifying the filing of a new text. Two bills, one already carried by the PS, the other by DéFI, had already been tabled at the start of the legislature. “There are no groups or populations at risk, there are only risky practices which can concern each citizen, whatever their sexual orientation”, adds in a press release the deputy PS Hervé Rigot, author of the new proposal. In Belgium, men who have had sexual contact with another man (MSM) are now excluded from donating blood for twelve months after the last sexual contact with another man. Heterosexuals declaring to have had risky behaviors, several sexual partners for example, are also excluded, but for a period of four months. Asked about this, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) described this new bill as an “important initiative”. (Belga)
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