Hema-Quebec relaxes blood donation requirements to attract new donors

As of Dec. 4, thousands of people living with diabetes or who may have been exposed to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, commonly known as mad cow disease, will be eligible to donate blood.

Hema-Quebec announced Wednesday that it has obtained Health Canada’s authorization to remove these people from its exclusion list.

The organization recalls that for many years, blood establishments worldwide prohibited donations from people who had travelled to or lived in certain countries, notably France and the United Kingdom, during the 1980s and 1990s.

The aim of this ban was to prevent the transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by transfusion.

As a result, Hema-Quebec has had to turn away thousands of potential donors.

Hema-Quebec Vice President Dr. Marc Germain explains that, after several years with no new cases, statistical estimates show no risk of new transmission.

He adds that experts now believe this ban is no longer needed.

Hema-Quebec says it is also changing its criteria for diabetes to enable more people with this condition to donate blood.

— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 22, 2023.