Affiliation:
1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California at Berkeley
Abstract
This article examines the reasons for, and likely impact of, the decision by the US and other countries to permanently defer blood donors who have spent time in Britain or Europe, for fear they may transmit new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of “mad cow disease.” It begins by discussing how vCJD and blood transfusion are linked, and how these have been translated into policy. First, maintaining a safe and stable supply of blood entails not only maintaining the trust of recipients in the system, but also that of donors, who need to be assured that their blood will be welcomed and used. Often, the balance, once upset, is regained by sacrificing donors, but accompanying costs might also be high. Second, the article highlights the impact of various forms of globalization—of commerce, disease and travel, and immigration—on blood policies and public and policy attitudes. Third, it assesses the decision by the US to restrict blood donations from Europeans and travelers to combat such a pervasive risk. The conclusion discusses how donor deferral policies may be interpreted by the public in the light of earlier discussions, and raises issues for future research.
Subject
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Developmental and Educational Psychology,Communication
Reference16 articles.
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3. 7 Sherry Sheethaler, “In the face of uncertainty: batty bovines and empty blood banks,” Berkeley Science Review 3, no. 1 (2003): 44–44 .
4. 8 There is a large literature on risk and trust in modern society. Directly on this topic, see Paul Slovic, “Perceived risk, trust and democracy,” Risk Analysis 13, no. 6 (1993): 675–682 , and the introduction to Ragnar Löfstedt and Lynn Frewer, (eds), The Earthscan Reader in Risk and Modern Society (London: Earthscan, 1998).
5. 20 See: Ghani et al. “Predicted vCJD mortality in Great Britain,” Nature 406 (10 August 2000): 583–584 ; Valleron et al. “Estimation of epidemic size and incubation time based on age characteristics of vCJD in the United Kingdom,” Science 294 (23 November 2001): 1726–1728; Huillard d’Aignaux et al. “Predictability of the UK variant Creutzfeld–Jakob disease epidemic,” Science 294 (November 2001): 1729–1731; and Tim Radford, “Victims of CJD fewer than feared,” The Guardian (10 August 2000).
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