A study came out this week that revealed people who carry the sickle cell trait (and I am one of those folks) supposedly don't have a higher risk of death from overexertion. I had no idea people with the sickle cell trait were in danger of death if they overexerted themselves. Apparently, we sickle cell trait carriers must be careful to stay hydrated when doing strenuous activities. Carrying the sickle cell trait usually doesn't affect me, but I was forced to give up donating blood when I lived in New York because the NY Blood Bank folks eventually rejected me and my sickle cell trait carrying blood which is odd because they used to take my blood and, suddenly, they didn't want it anymore. Fine. No more questionnaires asking if I've been in a 24-hour lockup, ate Mad Cow beef in England, exchanged sex for money, blah, blah, blah. I know the blood donation folks have their reasons for not allowing some people to donate blood, but to ban all sexually active gay men from donating seems archaic and unnecessary. Isn't all of the blood donated tested anyway? (Mine must have been because how else would they have found out about my sickle cell? That wasn't on the questionnaire, I don't think.) Plus, people lie on those blood donation questionnaires because people lie about a lot of things.
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