A few pints short

I am counter to the old saying that you can't squeeze blood from stone, having been a proud member of the Red Cross "gallon club" and counting.

But I am now not permitted to give blood in the US, as I found out on the afternoon of September 11th, thinking myself re-eligible to donate, after a minor hiatus...

Harry at Crooked Timber explains:

I too fail the following eligibility test:

From January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK)

Now, unlike Harry I am not a vegetarian (I have reasons to believe only one Icelander may be vegetarian at a time, and it is not I this century...).
But, during my last few years in the UK, I ate beef precisely three times, as best I can recall, by choice.
At a good friend's house, who imported it personally from an organic farm in west France, and once at a restaurant which was almost certainly using a certain BSE free source of beef (or should have been at the price...).

Prions in the blood supply are a reasonable concern - though really, I'm far more likely to be carrying sheep "riðuveiki" prions than BSE, and the safety of the US supply seems not much better than the UK's. But, the ban on former UK residents in the US seems excessive and unrealistic.

Of course there are benefits to giving blood

And we all know that Brits are the Best Blood Donors

If you have never seen this, you MUST click to watch.