Finland bans ex-UK residents from giving blood

HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) -- Blood donations by people who lived in Britain in the 1980s or early 1990s, have been banned in Finland, to reduce the risk of spreading the human form of mad cow disease.

Juhani Leikola, head of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, said the indefinite ban would start on April 1 and would affect people who lived in Britain for at least six months at any time between 1980 and 1996.

Leikola said Finland was imposing the ban because of concern that the fatal new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), could be transmitted through blood, though there was no evidence this could happen.

"This is an extreme cautionary measure, which has been decided upon because Finland is a "clean country" regarding mad cow disease, and the only theoretically possible threat regarding the human form of it could be blood," Leikola said.

Finland will be joining European Union partners Austria, Germany, Italy and France in taking such action. Switzerland, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have similar bans.

No cases of BSE have been found in cattle in Finland, Sweden and Austria.

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November 17, 2000

Finnish Red Cross Organization
American Red Cross
Mad Cow Disease
World Health Organisation

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