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Monday May 21 6:50 PM ET

Red Cross to Reject More Donors Over Mad Cow

By Lisa Richwine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The American Red Cross (news - web sites) said on Monday it will tighten restrictions on blood donations from people who have spent time in Europe as a precaution against the human form of mad cow disease.

The Red Cross, which collects about half of the U.S. blood supply, said beginning in September it will stop taking blood from people who have spent three months or more in Britain and six months or more in Europe from 1980 to the present.

Also, the Red Cross will reject any potential donor who has received a blood transfusion in Britain. The new policies are scheduled to take effect in mid-September.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 22, 2001