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[x-avier.livejournal.com]

New York Times
October 5th, 2004 - Morning Edition

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Washington DC
Red Cross to Open Donations to Mutants
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The American Red Cross Headquarters has announced that effective immediately, they will cease screening donated blood for the X-gene. They will be contining to screen donated blood and plasma for several X-gene related conditions, in addition to the standard tests for contagious diseases and conditions that would prevent use of donated blood.



Genetic information concerning the X-gene will remain a part of the confidential donor information sheet. Donors who are X-gene positive are strongly encouraged to see their physicians before donating to ensure that they are healthy and fit within the Red Cross's requirements for donation.

In order to raise awareness of this new policy, the Red Cross has announced a series of blood drives in major cities across the country. The blood drives will be primarily in cities that have a team associated with the Red Cross' Red X program, with members of those teams on hand to volunteer and assist.  The first and largest drive is slated for New York City, with the first Red X team on hand.

The New York Red X team is composed primarily of students and staff from the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, located in Westchester. Charles Xavier, the school's headmaster, in a telephone interview, said that "The Red Cross and Red X have taken a surperb step in bridging the gap in human-mutant relations. The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning is proud to participate in this event. Those members of my staff and student body who are members of Red X will be on hand as volunteers and support staff as well as participating in the blood drive as donors."

Among those volunteers and support staff are several prominent public mutants, including rock icon Alison Blaire, who was first to throw her support behind the new Red Cross policy and announce that she will be on hand to donate.  When asked about the blood drive, and how it would affect the public view of mutants, she replied "Some people can paint like no one's business. Some can draw, some can make engines purr like a cat, some know numbers. Me? I sing.  And every single one of us might one day need blood that only events such as these make available. It's such an important thing. And so simple, at the same time."

Most of the New York Red X team are students at Xavier's, but two members of the staff are prominent experts on mutation, and both Dr. Henry McCoy and Dr. Moira MacTaggart announced that they will be on hand as support staff to help draw blood.  Dr. MacTaggart, when asked about the new policy, had the following to say:  "The decision to allow the X-gene positive to donate blood without screening has now publically confirmed what the scientific community has been saying for some time. Mutation is a genetic condition. It is not contagious, it is not a disease, it is not a plague. It is heartening that relations have come forward this far. It is my hope that this will encourage the mainstream medical community to be more tolerant and accepting of those that carry the X-gene."

Dr. Henry McCoy, who is himself a mutant, and widely recognized along with Dr. MacTaggart as one of the premiere minds on the subject of mutation, opined "Naturally, this is a boon to relations between altered and baseline strains of humanity, as it points out something that the political climate has made organizations such as the Red Cross wary of stating publically in the past. Specifically, that the twist of genetics that seperate altered humans from the baseline is not transferrable in this fashion-- it is not a disease, such as blood donation screenings are intended to filter out, and it is not unclean or dangerous. The acceptance of non-baseline-- mutant, if you prefer-- blood into the general blood bank pool can only serve to save countless lives in the future, and this is a precedent one can only hope to see echoed in macrocosmic form as we move forward."

The blood drive in New York City is scheduled for Sunday, October 24th, and anyone interested in donating at the New York City should call the Red Cross for more information.  Turnout is expected to be high.  Also, though the drive in New York is receiving much publicity, local Red Cross centers are also open every day to receive blood donations.