Is this stupid or what??

The Red Cross stinks.

My brother, sister, and I all have hemochromatosis. That simply
means we have too much iron in our bodies. We have phlebotomies
to get the extra iron out. Once we have it under control, my
blood is no different than yours. Yet the Red Cross will not
accept it.

Why? Ask them.

They sure can't convince me. If there is such a shortage, tell
them they can have mine. All three of us will be glad to give
it. That will keep our iron down. It would help both them and
us, but they won't accept it.

~Ginny Beasley, Reed, Kentucky~

From The Mountain
I was not familiar with hemochromatosis and why the Red Cross
will not accept blood from individuals with the disease.
I figured the Red Cross had a good reason. Perhaps they don't.

This is from www.diabetes.org
The American Red Cross, which controls about 45% of the
nation's blood supply, does not currently accept donations from
people with known hemochromatosis. Everyone agrees that the
blood is safe and of high quality. There is no risk of passing
on a genetic disease through blood transfusions.

But the Red Cross has a long-standing policy that potential
donors are not allowed to receive direct compensation for their
donation (beyond the usual orange juice and cookie).

Because people with hemochromatosis would otherwise have to pay
for their therapeutic phlebotomies, they would in effect be
getting something of value for being able to donate for free.
Thus the Red Cross has ruled that such donations violate their
policy.

FDA regulations do permit hemochromotosis patients to donate
blood, but with some special restrictions on how the blood is
marked and how the blood banks operate. As a consequence, few
blood blanks in the US currently accept blood from people with
hemochromatosis, and most of the blood given as a result of
therapeutic phlebotomy is discarded (people with
hemochromatosis who wish to donate blood should check to see if
any blood banks in their area will accept their donations).

This is not true in other countries, which have generally
removed any restrictions on this blood. The American Medical
Association and many other groups have advocated for removal of
restrictions for the acceptance of blood donations from people
with hemochromatosis.

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For a solid medical reason the policy should be in place but if
it is just to prevent those with the disease from receiving a
worthwhile benefit while helping someone else with their blood,
then perhaps it is time for a change. My thought would be that
blood would even be of greater benefit to anyone suffering from
anemia which many women do.

[Source: today's Mountain Wings web page]