The American Medical Association (AMA) has lashed out against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), labeling the latter's lifetime ban against gay men donating blood as "discriminatory" and "not based on sound science."

American Medical Assoc Opposes FDA Lifetime Ban Against Gay Men Donating Blood, ‘Discriminatory’

It was in 1983 when the FDA enforced a ban against gay men donating blood, following the AIDS outbreak, at a time when little was still known about the virus. That time, the world believed gay men were more susceptible to contract the virus.

According to the FDA Web site, at least 61 per cent of all new HIV infections in the U.S. came or were sourced from gay men.

But the world's has evolved about the dreadful virus, rendering the FDA policy and ban outdated and obsolete.

"The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science," Dr. William Kobler, AMA board member, said in a statement. "This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone."

FDA should amend its policy and take time to evaluate each gay person individually, rather than assess them collectively, and then describe them singularly as a "high-risk" category.

"The policy was formed at a time in our history when we didn't have a name for AIDS or HIV," Robert Valadez, policy analyst for the HIV/AIDS advocacy group Gay Men's Health Crisis, told ABC News. "Our technology has advanced to the point where ... it is antiquated to keep this policy in place and to keep those units of blood from entering the blood supply."

The U.S. FDA may take a look at the blood donation policies of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia which allow gay men to donate blood provided they have been sexually inactive for a certain period of time - for Canada it is five years, UK is 12 months.

Japan, South Africa, Sweden and New Zealand likewise allow gay men to donate blood under similar restrictions.

"A year [of abstinence] has been adopted in the United Kingdom and Australia," Louis Katz, the vice president for America's Blood Centers, said. "We understand that it is problematic, but it would be movement from where we've been since the early 80s."