Canada updating sperm donor screening criteria for men who have sex with men – National | 24CA News
Health Canada is altering its screening standards for sperm donors, eradicating earlier questions directed at some homosexual and bisexual males.
In a press release to Global News Thursday, the company confirmed a CTV News report that the foundations for males who’ve intercourse with males shall be up to date.
“After a review of the latest scientific evidence and feedback received from recent consultations, Health Canada is updating the donor screening criteria for sperm and ova donors to adopt a more inclusive screening approach,” stated Mark Johnson, a Health Canada spokesperson.
“The new inclusive approach will replace the current men who have sex with men screening questions with gender-neutral, sexual behavior-based donor screening questions.”
The determination comes after Health Canada consulted with specialists, stakeholders, together with LGBTQ2 teams, and affected person associations, Johnson stated.
“This change will not compromise the safety of donated sperm and ova in Canada,” he added.
It is just not clear when the brand new guidelines with take impact.
According to Health Canada rules, a sperm or ova donor have to be screened utilizing a structured questionnaire, together with age, medical historical past and genetic historical past.
A 2021 doc laying out the necessities for suitability evaluation of donors deemed a person who has had intercourse with a person within the previous three months “unsuitable” for sperm donation, with exceptions.
For ova donation, it additionally barred an individual who has had intercourse within the previous three months with a person who has had intercourse with a person within the previous 12 months.
“The government of Canada is committed to make sure that sperm and ova donation policies are safe, non-discriminatory, and science-based,” Johnson stated.
These new screening guidelines observe an analogous change for blood donors in Canada.
In April 2022, Health Canada licensed a request from Canadian Blood Services to raise the restrictions round screening questions for males who’ve intercourse with males that banned them from donating blood for 3 months.
That change in coverage, below which all donors are screened no matter gender or sexuality, for high-risk sexual behaviours, got here into impact in September 2022.
— with recordsdata from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
