Comments for:

In response to "Don’t ask, don't tell … and don’t donate"

Submitter: Kevin Jon Williams | kjwilliams@temple.edu

Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Temple University School of Medicine, Phladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Published June 3, 2010

To the Editor: In her recent Editorial ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell . . . and don’t donate’ (1), Dr. Neill “urge[s] FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to revisit” the ban against blood and sperm donations from gay men. Our profession has made substantial advances in the testing and treatment of HIV-1 and other infections since the policy was adopted years ago, and it’s reasonable to ask for a re-examination.

Unfortunately, in making her case, Dr. Neill veered away from purely medical issues. Surprisingly, she used the Journal of Clinical Investigation as a forum to criticize the U.S. “government’s rationale for discharging military personnel because they are gay” (1), which isn’t even correct, “openly gay” would be more accurate (2). But it’s off-topic. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is a military and political policy, not an issue of “Clinical Investigation”. Nor does it apply to the FDA, which as a civilian agency can hire openly gay and straight individuals.

Moreover, Dr. Neill chose to make a series of unfavorable statements related to the FDA (1). It has “an appalling double standard” and fails “to have policies in place that are based on the science rather than on bigotry”. Dr. Neill cites influences from “radical Web sites” that push “hysteria about ‘gay blood’ and the feeling that liberal left-wing crackpots are trying to force their own agenda on fellow Americans.” Such remarks should have been made only if accompanied by strong evidence of malintent by FDA Commissioners, which Dr. Neill did not provide.

Recklessly impugning the U.S. FDA has consequences. It adds to the feeling of distrust that leads many members of the public to readily believe that, say, FDA-approved vaccines cause autism (they do not) (3) or that FDA-approved medicines exist solely to make money for physicians and pharmaceutical companies (we have clear data of clinical benefit for many medicines). Dr. Neill has written eloquently on this latter point in the JCI (4).

Accusations of institutional bigotry and extremism also paint an inaccurate picture of life in the U.S. In point of fact, our country is among the best places worldwide for gay life — something we should be proud of. To put a twist on Dr. Neill’s opening sentence (1), did you know that gay men can’t live in Iran, because that country’s leadership vigorously enforces the death penalty for homosexual acts (5-7)? That’s no excuse for us to follow medical policies that don’t make sense, but we are hardly as bad as she portrays.

References

1. Neill US: Don’t ask, don’t tell . . . and don’t donate. J. Clin. Invest. 2010;120(5):1364–1364.
2. Clinton WJ: Defense Directive 1304.26.
3. The Lancet's Vaccine Retraction: A medical journal's role in the autism scare. Wall Street Journal, 3 Feb 2010 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041544115791952.html).
4. Neill US. Tom Cruise is dangerous and irresponsible. J. Clin. Invest. 2005;115:1964–1965.
5. Islamic Republic of Iran's punishment code on Homosexuality (http://www.irqr.net/islamicpunishment-e.htm).
6. BBC News: Iran 'must stop youth executions' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4725959.stm), Thursday, 28 July 2005.
7. LGBT Topics and Islam: Legal status in modern Islamic nations. Wikipedia, viewed 18 May 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_topics_and_Islam).