Sir, - After spending just under two years in the UK, I returned to Ireland to live in July 1992. Since then I have been a reasonably regular blood donor (having given approximately 20 times).
I recently received a letter from the Blood Transfusion Service Board notifying me that, if I had spent more than one year in the UK in the period from 1980 to 1996, then I was to be prohibited from donating blood as a result of the unquantifiable risk of passing on an infection of CJD to potential recipients.
Interestingly, I have also been advised that I may continue to donate up to the end of September 2001. Only after this date (apparently) will the transfusion of my blood become an unacceptable risk. - Yours, etc.,
Joseph O'Dea, Warrington Place, Dublin 2.