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.:BLOOD TRANSFUSION SECRETS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE NOT TOLD: 12 Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses on The Use of Blood

"The Witnesses do not feel that the Bible comments direction on organ transplants; hence, decisions regarding cornea, kidney, or other tissue transplants must be made by the individual Witness." —How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 28 (View PDF of this Page)

"When doctors transplant a heart, a liver, or another organ, the recipient's immune system may sense the foreign tissue and reject it. Yet, a transfusion is a tissue transplant. Even blood that has been 'properly' cross matched can suppress the immune system." — How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 8 (View PDF of this Page) .

“Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood or of any of its four primary components.” —The Watchtower, June 15, 2004, p. 22 (View PDF of this Page)

"Today, most transfusions are not of whole blood but of one of its primary components: (1) red cells; (2) white cells; (3) platelets; (4) plasma (serum), the fluid part....Jehovah's Witnesses hold that accepting whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God's law."—The Watchtower, June 15, 2000, p. 29 (View PDF of this Page)

"The Main Components of Blood - Plasma: about 55 percent of the blood. It is 92 percent water; the rest is made up of complex proteins, such as globulins, fibrinogens, and albumin."—Awake!, October 22, 1990, p. 1 (View PDF of this Page)

"Witnesses' religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations."—How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 27 (View PDF of this Page)

(Note: "Hemophiliac preparations" are made from "fibrinogens." See Academic American Encyclopedia, vol. 17, p. 210 - View PDF of this page)

"Do Jehovah's Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Some do....some substances from the plasma cross into the fetus' circulation. Do plasma proteins, such as immune globulin and albumin? Yes, some do."—The Watchtower, June 1, 1990, p. 30-31? (View PDF of these Pages)

"The most important members of the white cell family are the granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes."—Encyclopedia Americana International Edition, vol. 4, 1999ed. (View PDF of this page)

"Both T- and B-lymphocytes are present in the human milk and colostrum and are part of the immunologic system in human milk."—Breastfeeding - A Guide for the Medical Profession, 4th edition, by Ruth A. Lawrence (Mosby - Year Book, Inc 1994), p. 154 (View PDF of this page)

"Do Jehovah's Witnesses allow the use of autologous blood (autotransfusion), such as by having their own blood stored and later put back into them?...Jehovah's Witnesses, though, DO NOT accept this procedure. We have long appreciated that such stored blood certainly is no longer part of the person. It has been completely removed from him, so it should be disposed of in line with God's Law: 'You should pour it out upon the ground as water.'-Deuteronomy 12:24" —The Watchtower, March 1, 1989, p. 30 (View PDF of this Page)

"...some 70 million units of concentrated Factor VIII are imported from the United States and are used to treat British haemophiliacs. Each batch of Factor VIII is made from plasma that is pooled from as many as 2,500 blood donors."—The Watchtower , June 15, 1985, p. 30 (View PDF of this Page)

"Witnesses' religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as...hemophiliac preparations...."—How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 27 (View PDF of this Page)

"What, however, about accepting serum injections to fight against disease, such as are employed for diphtheria, tetanus, viral hepatitis, rabies, hemophilia, and RH incompatibility? This seems to fall into a 'gray area.'...their conscience would permit such."—The Watchtower, June 15, 1978, p. 30-31 (View PDF of these Pages)

"...since God's Word indicates that it is wrong to take a blood transfusion, it is also wrong to give one's blood for transfusion." —The Watchtower, September 15, 1961, p. 561 (View PDF of this Page)

"Blood transfusion makes its entre'e - The idea of using blood from a health person to transfer youth and vitality to an old or sick one is very ancient. It existed in Egyptian medicine as early as two thousand years before Christ. Similar speculations are found in classical antiquity, as with Ovid: Draw only the swords and quick, the changed blood drains from his body - I fill his veins with the younger..." —The Illustrated History of Surgery, by Knut Haeger, 1988, 1990ed., p. 135 (View PDF of this Document)

12. According to a 1999 Consumer Report, what is the “risk” of infection from a two-unit blood transfusion?

“As the chart shows, the likelihood of infection from a two-unit blood transfusion is substantially less than the chance of being murdered or of being killed in an auto accident during the year… That change reflects an impressive improvement in the blood supply. In 1983 the AIDS virus was present in as many as 1 out of 100 units of blood. Today the odds are an estimated 1 in 676,000. Hepatitis C contamination has fallen from a similarly high prevalence to about 1 in 103,000 units… Transfusions save nearly 10,000 lives a day…” —Consumer Reports, September 1999, pp. 61-63 (View PDF of this Page)

For Additional Information See:

WHY DO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES REFUSE BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS? —Did they also prohibit vaccinations and organ transplants?

WHY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DIE RATHER THAN ACCEPT A BLOOD TRANSFUSION

NANCY’S STORY - How The Watchtower Policy On No Blood Transfusions Impacted My Family

DOES GOD'S LAW ON BLOOD REQUIRE NO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS?—Part 1 / Part 2