Canada extends UK blood ban

Canada already has a serious blood shortage

By Lee Carter in Toronto

Canada has tightened the ban on citizens who have spent time in the UK or France donating blood because of BSE fears.

The country's health ministry announced that Canadians who have spent three months or more in the UK or France since 1980 will be barred from giving blood.

The new restrictions are more stringent than those announced a year ago.

Canada is now banning blood donations from those who have been in Britain for three months or more instead of the previous rule of six months.

The health ministry is also extending its net further across Europe.

New rules justified

It will apply the same rules to any Canadian who has spent five years or more in another 12 European countries, from Spain to Austria.

Canadian blood agency officials say the new rules will prevent more than three per cent of the population from donating blood in a country that already has a serious shortage.

There has never been a case of vCJD, the human form of BSE, linked to blood transfusions.

Health officials admit the risk of spreading the disease is slight, but insist it is enough to justify the new rules.

The regulations will be slightly stricter for the French-speaking province of Quebec, which has its own independent blood services agency.