The American Medical Association voted to end the FDA ban on gay men donating blood, a policy that has been in place since the 1983 AIDS outbreak.

Some experts believe the policy is outdated because blood donors are now routinely tested for HIV and AIDS, reported ABC News. About one in two million blood transfusions actually infect a person with HIV.

"The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science," AMA board member Dr. William Kobler said in a statement. "This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone."

The AMA recommended the policy be changed to evaluate gay men on an individual level instead of as a whole.

"The policy was formed at a time in our history when we didn't have a name for AIDS or HIV," Robert Valadez, policy analyst for the HIV/AIDS advocacy group Gay Men's Health Crisis said. "Our technology has advanced to the point where ... it is antiquated to keep this policy in place and to keep those units of blood from entering the blood supply."

In Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, gay men are permitted to donate blood so long as they have abstained from same-sex relations for a certain amount of time. Louis Katz, the vice president for America's Blood Centers, suggested the U.S. enforce a similar policy.

"A year [of abstinence] has been adopted in the United Kingdom and Australia," she said. "We understand that it is problematic, but it would be movement from where we've been since the early 80s."

The Red Cross, America's Blood Centers and AABB: a non-profit agency, issued a joint statement in support of a new policy to allow gay men who had abstained from sex for a period of time to donate blood.