At the most recent Tufts blood drive, Red Cross staff and volunteers said they hoped for higher than usual blood yields this year due to more lax restriction on European travel.
The American Red Cross and the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) sponsored their triennial blood drive on the Tufts campus from April 19 to 21 in the Hodgdon Hall lounge.
New Red Cross regulations now permit donations from previously-excluded European travelers.
"There is still no substitute for human blood," Kelly Enright, a donor recruiter for the Red Cross, said, rendering a quality blood supply through donations crucial.
In the late 1990s, the Red Cross responded to European outbreaks of variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (vCJD), better known as mad cow disease, by declaring anyone who spent more than six months in Western and Eastern Europe since 1980 ineligible to donate blood. Under the new restrictions, only those who have spent more than five years in Europe are barred from donation.
The stringent restrictions have made blood collection more difficult, Enright said. "We hated it," she said. "Only five percent of the people eligible actually donate blood, so we cut the pool even more by not allowing [six-month European travelers] to donate blood."
Enright said that even those people with little likelihood of obtaining mad cow disease, such as a vegetarian were barred from giving blood.
The restriction eliminated many potential donors at an international campus like Tufts. Many international students and professors, as well as and juniors and seniors returning from European study abroad, would have been barred from donating.
"We hope [the new regulations] will bring a lot of people back who have been deferred," Enright said.
According to junior Allison Patrick, co-coordinator of the blood drive through LCS, the Red Cross typically collects between 100 and 150 units of blood during each blood drive. Each student donates one unit, or about a pint, of blood.
A supply of blood is key for many medical procedures, Patrick said. "Blood is only good for so long," she said. "Anytime someone is in the hospital with any major injury, they need blood. A simple heart transplant requires eight to 10 pints of blood."
At Tufts, the blood drive takes place three times a year, in October, February and April. The donated blood is used in various hospitals across the nation.
Red Cross blood is also used in response to natural disasters and military attacks. According to the Red Cross Web site, the number of blood donors in America has increased since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
Blood donation regulations previously attracted attention at Tufts last spring when senior Matt Pohl objected to the Food and Drug Administration's policy which barred people who had engaged in male-to-male sex from donating blood.
Pohl said that the policy violated the University's non-discrimination policy and the Tufts Community Union Judiciary's non-discrimination policy for student groups.
The conflict was later resolved in December 2004 when a call was made for increased local and national educational efforts about the "potentially discriminatory policy" regarding homosexual male blood donors.
Sophomore Denise Lyn-Shue, who donated blood for her second time yesterday, said she agreed that the restriction placed on men engaging in homosexual activity prevents "so many people willing to give blood" from doing so.
"They test the blood anyway," Lyn-Shue said. "Similarly, there are certain races that have higher incidences of HIV than others, but they aren't restricted."
Sophomore Mccaila Ingold-Smith said that the restrictions are only imposed because the Red Cross is trying to be "cautious."
"There are other ways that they [those restricted from donating blood] can offer their help," Ingold-Smith said. "It's such a touchy subject. I understand both sides."
Other blood donation regulations concerning international disease exposure are still in effect. Travelers or residents in areas where malaria is present must wait, 12 months or three years respectively, to donate.
Similarly, those born in Western Africa or in close contact with West Africans are ineligible to donate due to potential HIV exposure.
- Courtney Chua contributed reporting to this article.
