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Clod - the blood does expire, I believe it is like 8 days for the red blood cells or something. That is why there seems to always be a shortage. The Frozen products expire as well, I just think it takes a little longer, but not much.
As for tattoos in the US - there is a year waiting period for fear of the diseases you can get from the needles. After that, you should be home free.
Also keep in mind that all blood banks are overseen by the FDA and it may be them enforcing the procedure of questionnaires. And they will quickly kick a blood bank's ass if they aren't following correct procedures.
My thinking on it is that if they sort out the high-risk people first, then they have more time to focus on the potentially healthy blood. At the end of the day, the number of units is important, but if a number of them are unusable, all the man hours and supplies that were used to collect and test them were wasted. I am not saying that they are right in their practices, just that I can see it from another point of view.
And yes, people can lie about the answers and the time is still wasted. There was also a number that people can call to say they lied if they wanted to tell, but not face to face.
(No, I don't nor have I ever worked for the Red Cross......just another blood bank. And I am also not saying that I agree with everything either)
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