The current test used to screen all donated blood for HIV can detect the actual virus as soon as 9 to 12 days after infection. They happen to be exactly right on both points. Speaking on the FDA panel today, both a representative from the Human Rights Campaign and the president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association expressed the views that: first, the ban should not target gay men specifically, but be based on a survey regarding specific HIV-risk behaviors and, second, a year is an excessive waiting period. But this particular proposed change, which the Red Cross has long supported, is flawed as well. The ban - which, to say the least, is seriously flawed - was instituted in the early years of the AIDS crisis, to prevent HIV from getting into the blood supply at a time when there were no reliable tests to detect HIV in blood. I’m tempted to joke: I hope none of us will qualify. Today, an FDA panel is live-streaming its discussion of whether to change the agency’s long-standing ban on blood donation from gay men to a ban only on gay men who’ve had sex with a man in the past year.