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Since 1995, 177 people in the U.K. have died of vCJD. Three of them acquired it from blood transfusions.

“It’s no longer just theoretical,” said Dr. Mindy Goldman, medical director for donor and transplant services for Canadian Blood Services. “It actually has happened — not often, but it’s a pretty horrible disease.”

Only two Canadians have died of vCJD, neither of whom got it from tainted blood — an indication, perhaps, that the deferral policy has kept this country’s blood supply safe.

Before adopting the 1999 policy, Canadian Blood Services did travel surveys of donors to see how many would be affected, looking for how to provide the biggest risk reduction “without crashing the whole system,” Goldman said.

“It was felt that the system could withstand a three-month travel deferral without sustaining a grievous loss of donors.”

Even so, the policy cost Canadian Blood Services three to four per cent of its donors. “That’s quite a big hit in one go,” said Goldman.

As the years have passed, the policy’s impact on donor numbers has declined. Now, only a few hundred new donors are affected annually.

You have to look at the risk benefit, said Goldman. “If we were having terrible blood shortages and putting patients at risk because of the ban, absolutely, you would have to reassess that.”

But the policy has been in place for 15 years. “It’s hard to attribute summer shortages to the ban,” she said.

“We know there are not very many donors we would gain back by flip-flopping on the policy. Even if it’s small, we owe it to patients to try to prevent any risk that we can.”