Australia Thursday announced a ban on blood donations from people who lived in Britain during the mad cow disease epidemic because they may have eaten infected beef.
Under the ban, people that lived in Britain for at least six months between 1980 and 1996 would be stopped from donating blood.
The move follows the release of research that shows Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the lethal human form of mad cow disease, can be spread through blood transfusions.
"The thing I would like to emphasize is that it is a potential risk but one that we can't ignore," said chief medical officer Richard Smallwood.
Tony Keller, chairman of the donor and product safety committee for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, said the ban would result in a 5.3 percent drop in donations.
"The compromise is between maximizing safety ... balanced against the sufficiency of the blood supply, which is a risk in itself -- if there is insufficient blood, lives are going to be put at risk right now," he said -- SYDNEY (AFP)
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