implementation of revised fda guidelines is not a swift action were working as quickly as possible and hope to finish implementing them by midmay the spokesperson said according to estok its not like flipping a light switch they explained to me exciting news for me in just a few short months ill still be me he said asked whether estok would have been able to give blood or plasma based on an individual risk assessment new york blood center did not comment the new york blood center spokesperson told gma weve been in contact with the donor lukus to discuss how we can further improve our donor engagement processes we would love to work with him to advocate for further change and we would welcome him to come back and be at the front of the line when we begin accepting newly eligible donors in the coming weeks what happens now in a statement an fda spokesperson told gma the fda is committed to considering alternatives to the timebased deferral for men who have sex with men by generating the scientific evidence that will support an effective individual risk assessmentbased blood donor questionnaire the fda goes on to reveal to gma they are working to commence a pilot study that will enroll about 2000 men who have sex with men and who would be willing to donate blood this study being conducted at community health centers in key locations across the united states could generate data that will help the fda determine if a donor questionnaire based on individual risk assessment would be as effective as timebased deferrals in reducing the risk of hiv us food and drug administration building behind fda logos at a bus stop on the agencys campus in silver spring md jacquelyn martinap file this is the first time the fda has made public mention of a study to work toward moving to an individual riskbased assessment for blood donors and the would inevitably remove the oncelifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from giving blood or blood products and any deferral period thereafter until that time comes the fda blood deferral policy for gay and bisexual men stands on its current 3month deferral period three months is still an unacceptable barrier to ask a certain section of the population and not the rest of the population to have to clear lukus estok told gma we dont need old stigma dictating the way that we make medical and scientific decisions thats not how its supposed to work science is supposed to inform the way we make decisions