U.S. Food and Drug Administration

U.S. health regulators will recommend that gay men be allowed to donate blood one year after their last sexual contact, easing a ban that has been in place since 1983.

A panel of experts convened by U.S. health regulators failed Dec. 3 to decide whether a lifetime ban should be lifted on gay men donating blood, following two days of heated deliberations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which takes into account the 17-member committee's suggestions, did not indicate when it would make a decision.