New regs for Wednesday: Blood donations, imports, frogs

Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for gay men donating blood, importers, and protections for frogs.

Here’s what is happening:

Blood donations: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving forward with new guidelines that will allow gay men to donate blood.

{mosads}Gay men, who have been prohibited from donating blood since 1983, will be allowed to donate if they have been celibate for at least one year.

The FDA announced the changes earlier in the week, but made them official Tuesday by publishing them in the Federal Register.

Imports: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is moving forward with new rules for importers.

Importers will be allowed to electronically provide information to customs and border agents, the NHTSA announced Tuesday.

The final rule goes into effect immediately.

Frogs: The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will not protect certain frogs from endangerment.

The FWS proposed listing the arroyo toad as threatened in 2014, but is now withdrawing the proposal.

“Some conservation efforts are ongoing in most populations to help manage and reduce impacts to arroyo toads from many ongoing threats; however, the species has not yet responded to an extent that would allow a change in listing status,” the agency wrote.