Tainted: Why Gay Men Still Can't Donate Blood - "Since 1983, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines have disqualified men who have ever had sex with men (MSM) from donating blood... Uneven application of exclusion to at-risk individuals suggests that risk aversion disproportionately impacts MSMs. For example, a non-MSM individual who has had sexual contact with a commercial sex worker or HIV-positive partner is deferred for only twelve months... The fact that the U.S. upholds a lifetime ban on MSM donation while Australian policy allows MSM individuals to donate a year or less after contact reveals a glaring discrepancy. Both ethics and science point to a flaw in FDA policy. That I could have had sex with 365 partners this year and be a perfectly fine candidate for donating blood, while the MSM next to me wouldn't qualify, betrays a faulty line of logic."
[more inside]
posted by flex
on Nov 12, 2012 -
104 comments
The war against red-haired males. [Time.com] Cryos International, the world’s largest sperm bank, recently announced that it will be turning away redheaded donors at the door. The company’s red-haired sperm supply is full up, and not often called upon. Clinic director Ole Schou told a Danish newspaper that parents are inclined to select donors who are physically similar to themselves, and red’s rareness makes it an unpopular choice.
posted by Fizz
on Oct 1, 2011 -
102 comments
The World Giving Index (
scribd) (
.pdf) by the
Charity Aid Foundation1 was
just released. It lumps three different types of charitable behaviour – giving money, giving time and helping a stranger - and produces the “World Giving Index”. Australia and New Zealand
came out on top. The study also found that being happy is more of an influence on giving money to charity than being wealthy.
[more inside]
posted by wilful
on Sep 9, 2010 -
20 comments
"Out of the blue, in the middle of a recession, the phone rang. What would it cost, the caller asked the founder of
DonorsChoose.org, to fund every California teacher's wish list posted on the Web site? The founder, Charles Best, thought perhaps the female caller would hang up when he tossed out his best guess: "Something over $1 million," he told her. A day later, Hilda Yao, executive director of the Claire Giannini Fund
mailed a check of more than $1.3 million to cover the entire California wish list, 2,233 projects in all, with an extra $100,000 tossed in to help pay for other teacher needs across the country. (DonorsChoose: previously on MeFi) [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Sep 3, 2010 -
82 comments
In response to
shortfalls in organ donation, policy is undergoing a serious rethink in several countries. In
Australia, the government has just lifted a ban on animal-to-human transplants. In the UK, the Chief Medical Officer has called for
presumed consent, while in Israel a new law gives donor card carriers
a legal right to priority treatment if they should require an organ transplant. Many are looking to
Spain, which leads the world, having seen the number of deceased donors per million people - a commonly used benchmark - increase from 14 in 1989 when a new system was put in place to 34.2 last year. Interestingly,
people committing suicide have a higher rate of donating organs than average.
posted by MuffinMan
on Dec 21, 2009 -
99 comments
Tons of British Food for Katrina Victims to be Incinerated (link to Mirror article)
More
red tape embarrassment for the
Katrina relief effort. This time, tons of food donated by the UK is set to be incinerated rather than delivered to hungry evacuees. The FDA recalled the food rations, which had been loaded onto trucks and sent out for distribution, because they had been "condemned as unfit for human consumption". Never mind the glaring fact that these are the same food rations being eaten by British soldiers in Iraq right now.
posted by fenriq
on Sep 20, 2005 -
82 comments
Man Wants Church Donation Back A man, in the midst of a serious bout of depression, gives away almost his entire life savings, $126,000, to a local church. He later realizes that this was not the smartest thing to do. He asks the church for the money back. The church, not surprisingly, says they've already spent it and so he can't have it back.
What's next?
Bust out the lawyers!
posted by fenriq
on Jan 13, 2004 -
20 comments
Unmitigated gall. The illegal aliens who got two hearts and two lungs for their daughter REFUSED to have any of her organs donated when it was clear she was brain-dead...
posted by MattD
on Feb 22, 2003 -
240 comments
An astonishing bequest of $100 million to
Poetry Magazine instantly turns a 4-person literary journal into the wealthiest poetry organization on the planet. The benefactress,
Ruth Lilly, has given millions to libraries and medical research labs in the midwest. But poetry has never been showered with such munificence until now. What will this donation achieve beyond ensuring the existence of the journal
into perpetuity?
posted by dougb
on Nov 18, 2002 -
48 comments
A week before filing for bankruptcy protection, energy giant Enron Corp.
donated $100,000 to the Democratic Party committee that helps Senate candidates, campaign finance reports show. Enron has been talked about
before, so do people think this is an important sum of money, if not why is CNN covering it?
posted by rhyax
on Dec 28, 2001 -
13 comments
The media comes through.. networks actually working together, along with cable companies, as well as Hollywood.
Muhammad Ali and Billy Joel just floored me. You can also donate at foodstores and dozens of other easy to get to places, so there are no excuses. I'm still waiting for them to need for physical labor volunteers.
posted by rich
on Sep 21, 2001 -
87 comments
Libertyunites.com is a crisis relief site where you can donate directly to the charity of your choice, with no fees or costs...
posted by zerotype
on Sep 18, 2001 -
0 comments
GE pledges $10 million to a fund that will assist the families of the firefighters, police officers and emergency rescue personnel who perished while responding to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Cisco Systems has made gifts to key relief and support organizations serving the New York City and Washington D.C. areas, including a $6 million donation.
Microsoft is making a donation of $10 million in cash and technical services. Know of any other companies that are doing something similar?
posted by riffola
on Sep 14, 2001 -
23 comments
Iraq to Donate $94 Million to Poor Americans Interesting propaganda.
But more interestingly - disregarding the donor, would the US ever accept such a donation? (How could we admit a need for charity at home when we send billions in aid abroad?)
And what's next? We're not of a mindset to accept foreign meddling. What about UN relief efforts? International peacekeeping forces?
posted by Tubes
on Jan 15, 2001 -
14 comments
Donate a Mammogram! My aunt sent me this URL so
be nice. =) If you go there and click on the button, a woman gets a free mammogram at no cost to you. Corporate sponsors pay for it. Only one free mammogram donation per person. Sure it's corny but it's for a good cause. Besides, it is every man's sacred duty to do what he can to insure all the world's breasts are in top form. =)
posted by ZachsMind
on Jan 6, 2001 -
15 comments
