Blood, Is It In Us To Give?
By Jan Roberts
A lady looks out of the window of a bus and sees herself in desperate need of medical attention. A young child is show, a victim of cancer walking along the street with an IV in his arm. The message is simple: "Blood. It's in you to give."
You have probably seen the commercial on TV many times. The Canadian Blood Society's message is blunt. There aren't enough blood donors in Canada. Only about 4% of the Canadian population sacrifice a litre of their blood. That's less than 1 in 20 Canadians. One donation from these donors can help up to four people who need it. Just think of the possibilities if every Canadian donated every eight weeks (minimum time between donations)! As a result of the lack of donors, restrictions are being lowered and more people with potentially dangerous blood are being allowed to donate.
Yet teenagers are not allowed to become blood donors until they are at least 17 years old. Even then, restrictions come into play. Some of the restrictions are AIDS (understandably), allergies (if they aren't controlled), tattoos (you have to wait at least 12 weeks), asthma, cancer (even within the family), if you travel over seas (yes, believe it or not, if you leave the country, especially to go to England, you may not be able to be a donor), or even dental work.
I personally don't see why youth can't donate their blood. I know many teens who, given the opportunity, would gladly help those who need it. No where in the restrictions placed by the Canadian Blood Society does it state why an individual under the age of 17 cannot give blood. If they were to lower the age to 15, (with possible parental consent needed) it is very possible that the population of blood donors would increase.
The maximum age a Canadian can donate blood is 61 years of age. This is understandable as elderly people find it harder to give blood. However, young and healthy teenagers do not need all of their blood, and will not suffer any effects of donating it. My question is, if we have so much blood that we don't need, why can't we give it to people who need it?
