Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept any minor fractions of blood?
The following answer is reprinted from the issue of June 15, 2000.
The fundamental
answer is that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept blood. We firmly
believe that God’s law on blood is not open to reform to fit shifting
opinions. Still, new issues arise because blood can now be processed
into four primary components and fractions of those components. In
deciding whether to accept such, a Christian should look beyond possible
medical benefits and risks. His concern should be what the Bible says
and the potential effect on his relationship with Almighty God.
The key issues are quite simple. As an aid to seeing why that is so, consider some Biblical, historical, and medical background.
Jehovah God told our common ancestor Noah that blood must be treated as something special. (Genesis 9:3, 4)
Later, God’s laws to Israel reflected the sacredness of blood: “As for
any man of the house of Israel or some alien resident . . . who eats any
sort of blood, I shall certainly set my face against the soul that is
eating the blood.” By rejecting God’s law, an Israelite could
contaminate others; thus, God added: “I shall indeed cut him off from
among his people.” (Leviticus 17:10)
Later, at a meeting in Jerusalem, the apostles and older men decreed
that we must ‘abstain from blood.’ Doing so is as vital as abstaining
from sexual immorality and idolatry.—Acts 15:28, 29.
What would
“abstaining” have meant back then? Christians did not consume blood,
whether fresh or coagulated; nor did they eat meat from an unbled
animal. Also ruled out would be foods to which blood was added, such as
blood sausage. Taking in blood in any of those ways would violate God’s
law.—1 Samuel 14:32, 33.
Most people in
ancient times would not have been troubled over the consuming of blood,
as we can see from the writings of Tertullian (second and third
centuries C.E.). Responding to false charges that Christians consumed
blood, Tertullian mentioned tribes that sealed treaties by tasting
blood. He also noted that “when a show is given in the arena, [some]
with greedy thirst have caught the fresh blood of the guilty . . . as a
cure for their epilepsy.”
Those practices
(even if some Romans did them for health reasons) were wrong for
Christians: “We do not include even animals’ blood in our natural diet,”
wrote Tertullian. The Romans used food containing blood as a test of
the integrity of real Christians. Tertullian added: “Now, I ask you,
what sort of a thing is it, that when you are confident [that
Christians] will turn with horror from animals’ blood, you should
suppose them greedy for human blood?”
Today, few
people would think that the laws of Almighty God are at issue if a
physician suggested their taking blood. While Jehovah’s Witnesses
certainly want to keep living, we are committed to obey Jehovah’s law on
blood. What does this mean in the light of current medical practice?
As transfusions
of whole blood became common after World War II, Jehovah’s Witnesses
saw that this was contrary to God’s law—and we still believe that. Yet,
medicine has changed over time. 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.
Depending on the condition of the patient,
physicians might prescribe red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma.
Transfusing these major components allows a single unit of blood to be
divided among more patients. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that accepting
whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God’s law.
Significantly, keeping to this Bible-based position has protected them
from many risks, including such diseases as hepatitis and AIDS that can
be contracted from blood.
However, since
blood can be processed beyond those primary components, questions arise
about fractions derived from the primary blood components. How are such
fractions used, and what should a Christian consider when deciding on
them?
Blood is
complex. Even the plasma—which is 90 percent water—carries scores of
hormones, inorganic salts, enzymes, and nutrients, including minerals
and sugar. Plasma also carries such proteins as albumin, clotting
factors, and antibodies to fight diseases. Technicians isolate and use
many plasma proteins. For example, clotting factor VIII has been given
to hemophiliacs, who bleed easily. Or if someone is exposed to certain
diseases, doctors might prescribe injections of gamma globulin,
extracted from the blood plasma of people who already had immunity.
Other plasma proteins are used medically, but the above mentioned
illustrate how a primary blood component (plasma) may be processed to
obtain fractions.*
Just as blood
plasma can be a source of various fractions, the other primary
components (red cells, white cells, platelets) can be processed to
isolate smaller parts. For example, white blood cells may be a source of
interferons and interleukins, used to treat some viral infections and
cancers. Platelets can be processed to extract a wound-healing factor.
And other medicines are coming along that involve (at least initially)
extracts from blood components. Such therapies are not transfusions of
those primary components; they usually involve parts or fractions
thereof. Should Christians accept these fractions in medical treatment?
We cannot say. The Bible does not give details, so a Christian must make
his own conscientious decision before God.
Some would
refuse anything derived from blood (even fractions intended to provide
temporary passive immunity). That is how they understand God’s command
to ‘abstain from blood.’ They reason that his law to Israel required
that blood removed from a creature be ‘poured out on the ground.’ (Deuteronomy 12:22-24)
Why is that relevant? Well, to prepare gamma globulin, blood-based
clotting factors, and so on, requires that blood be collected and
processed. Hence, some Christians reject such products, just as they
reject transfusions of whole blood or of its four primary components.
Their sincere, conscientious stand should be respected.
Other
Christians decide differently. They too refuse transfusions of whole
blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Yet, they might
allow a physician to treat them with a fraction extracted from the
primary components. Even here there may be differences. One Christian
may accept a gamma globulin injection, but he may or may not agree to an
injection containing something extracted from red or white cells.
Overall, though, what might lead some Christians to conclude that they
could accept blood fractions?
“Questions From Readers” in The Watchtower
of June 1, 1990, noted that plasma proteins (fractions) move from a
pregnant woman’s blood to the separate blood system of her fetus. Thus a
mother passes immunoglobulins to her child, providing valuable
immunity. Separately, as a fetus’ red cells complete their normal life
span, their oxygen-carrying portion is
processed. Some of it becomes bilirubin, which crosses the placenta to
the mother and is eliminated with her body wastes. Some Christians may
conclude that since blood fractions can pass to another person in this
natural setting, they could accept a blood fraction derived from blood
plasma or cells.
Does the fact
that opinions and conscientious decisions may differ mean that the issue
is inconsequential? No. It is serious. Yet, there is a basic
simplicity. The above material shows that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse
transfusions of both whole blood and its primary blood components. The
Bible directs Christians to ‘abstain from things sacrificed to idols and
from blood and from fornication.’ (Acts 15:29)
Beyond that, when it comes to fractions of any of the primary
components, each Christian, after careful and prayerful meditation, must
conscientiously decide for himself.
Many people
would be willing to accept any therapy that seems to offer immediate
benefit, even a therapy having known health risks, as is true of blood
products. The sincere Christian endeavors to have a broader, more
balanced view that involves more than just the physical aspects.
Jehovah’s Witnesses appreciate efforts to provide quality medical care,
and they weigh the risk/benefit ratio of any treatment. However, when it
comes to products derived from blood, they carefully weigh what God
says and their personal relationship with our Life-Giver.—Psalm 36:9.
What a blessing
for a Christian to have such confidence as the psalmist who wrote:
“Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; favor and glory are what he gives.
Jehovah himself will not hold back anything good from those walking in
faultlessness. O Jehovah . . . , happy is the man that is trusting in
you”!—Psalm 84:11, 12.
[Footnote]
See “Questions From Readers” in The Watchtower
of June 15, 1978, and October 1, 1994. Pharmaceutical firms have
developed recombinant products that are not taken from blood and that
may be prescribed in place of some blood fractions used in the past.
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