MetaFilter posts tagged with disease and Canada

The Ban on Blood Donation

zarq — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:35:07 -0800

Are the Rules That Determine Who Can Donate Blood Discriminatory? Canadian AIDS researchers Dr. Mark Wainberg and Dr. Norbert Gilmore say that while the ban on blood donation from men who have sex with other men may have been ethically and scientifically justified in the 1980's, it no longer makes sense. (CMAJ.) Even though the US FDA reaffirmed their long-standing ban in 2007, they plan to revisit the policy in June. Background Currently gay and other men who have sex with men in Canada and the US, as well as the UK and a number of other countries, are permanently banned from giving blood. The prohibition in North America was introduced in 1983. Thousands of individuals were infected with HIV after receiving blood products infected with the virus before effective screening was developed.
Also: Before giving blood, all men are asked if they have had sex, even once, with another man since 1977. Those who say they have are permanently banned from donating. The FDA said those men are at increased risk of infection by HIV that can be transmitted to others by blood transfusion. In March 2006, the Red Cross, the international blood association AABB and America’s Blood Centers proposed replacing the lifetime ban with a one-year deferral following male-to-male sexual contact. New and improved tests, which can detect HIV-positive donors within just 10 to 21 days of infection, make the lifetime ban unnecessary, the blood groups told the FDA.
And: In the CMAJ article, Wainberg and colleagues noted that several industrialized countries, including Argentina, Australia, Japan, and Sweden, have implemented a shorter one-year period of deferral.
More on the study from the Globe and Mail, National Post and Toronto Sun From 2000: Should Gay Men be Allowed to Donate Blood?

Mad Cow USA

woil — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:28:40 -0800

After reading that beef has been recalled from my local grocery store, I spent some time reading Mad Cow USA a book written back in 1997 but not widely published because of fears of repercussions under the Texas food disparagement act. AlterNet has an article written by one of the book's authors summarizing some of the key points of the book. Some claim that only ground beef is infected, while others claim that's bull. mad-cow.org has a lot of good information on the topic, and it seems the powers that be are going to blame Canada.

WHO lifts Toronto travel ban

alicesshoe — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 16:23:11 -0800

WHO lifts Toronto travel ban. And Health Canada Recommendations: Health Canada continues to strongly endorse travel into and throughout the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] as safe and encourages travellers to maintain their business and/or personal travel plans to the GTA.
That's just great. What, a week after banning all travel to Toronto because of SARS, it's on again?

That's bloody irresponsible, considering the damage it has done and will continue to do so to travel to Canada no less Toronto. [s'more inside]

I hear diseased urine is delivered directly into the Great Lakes!

jon_kill — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:54:50 -0800

With an increase in the number of cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, Canada now poses more of a direct threat to the American way of life than all of the weapons in Iraq combined. As the relationship between these two North American real estate holders continues to deteriorate, are we Canadians to expect border closings and escalated hostility due to this?