John Voss to give blood after elimination of 'Mad Cow' restriction

State Rep. John Voss hasn't given blood since 1991 but will do so Sunday, March 26, during Southeast Missouri State University's Greek Week.

The freshman Republican lawmaker from Cape Girardeau, who joined the state House on Jan. 4, didn't lose interest in donating for the past three decades.

Voss' travel history with Procter & Gamble, his former employer, made it impossible for the District 147 representative to give.

"My family and I had the opportunity to live in England in the early '90s during the height of the 'mad cow' scare," said Voss, who added his international tenure in Europe had rendered him and his family ineligible to give.

Federal regulators, fearing mad cow, also known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, effectively banned many people who had lived in certain parts of Europe from rolling up their sleeves.

Last May, the Food and Drug Administration finally deemed it safe to accept blood from those who had lived in, or traveled to the United Kingdom, France and Ireland between 1980 and 1996.

"I had been a multiple gallon donor, and once we returned to the U.S., I tried to give through my employer and we learned we couldn't give -- and I just stopped trying," Voss said Thursday, March 16.

"The executive director of Missouri-Arkansas Red Cross (recently) stopped by my office at the Capitol and informed me the rules had changed and encouraged me to resume donating."

John Voss

John Voss

Drilling down

Mad cow disease, literally bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a transmissible, slowly progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle, according to www.webmd.com/brain/mad-cow-disease-basics.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported testing hundreds of thousands of cattle for BSE.

Voss said he is happy to be able to resume his Type A-negative whole blood donations.

"None of us knows at what point in our lives we might need blood," Voss said.

Those interested in donating may call (800)-733-2767 or visit www.redcrossblood.org to find a local blood drive location.