[The contraindications in blood donation. Impact of the decree of January 12, 2009].

The ministerial decree of 12 January 2009 fixing the criteria for the selection of blood donors establishes the list of contraindications for blood donation according to the appendix to the European directive 2004/33/EC. This text regroups the preexisting guidelines and reinforces their regulatory status, which illustrates the importance attributed to the selection of donors within the dispositions ensuring transfusion safety. It introduces more flexibility with respect to the preexisting criteria taking into account the improvement in life expectancy and the continual increase in transfusion requirements. Thus, the rules for donation authorize up to 24 donations annually and one may give whole blood up to six times per year for men and four times for women, up to the age of 70, the risk of anaemia now being well controlled. The medical rules are more flexible in the areas of haemochromatosis, allergies and autoimmune diseases and for the collection of plasma for fractionation. Some expected changes were not approved in certain cases due to the preeminence of the corresponding criteria in the European directive, like for cured cancers, in other cases in view of an analysis of the available epidemiological data or potential risks like for sexual relations between men and the risks linked to prions or emerging agents (transfusion antecedents). These selection criteria will be revised every year, which should permit their adaptation to the current state of knowledge, although the extent of the revisions will be limited by the updating of the European text on which they are based.