AJWRB presents - Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower and "NEW LIGHT ON BLOOD"


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What is forbidden?

This is a complex question. As you may know the WTS still prohibits whole blood and certain blood components namely, red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma. But here is the key: they allow everything inside of these components to be used.

If you discount the membranes of the red cells, white cells and platelets, they are allowing somewhere between 97 and 98% of the blood. However, the membrane is stroma (protein/enzyme) and as a fraction it too would be permitted. So technically the WTS permits 100% of the blood in fractionated form.

Here is an analogy: It's like saying, "see that truck over there, it's stolen and you can't buy it but if someone dismantles it, it's not a truck anymore, it's truck parts and you can buy what you want. However, the engine, the transmission, the radio and the disc brakes are special. They are the 'primary' components of the truck (i.e. the red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma). You can't have these 'primary' components unless you first completely dismantle them. If you do that you can buy them too."

Just how accurate is this analogy? Consider this: Red blood cells are prohibited by the Watchtower Society. What is a red blood cell? Nothing more than a donut shaped miniature bag of hemoglobin. Broken down by dry weight, the red cell is 97% hemoglobin and 3% bag (membrane). To permit hemoglobin and ban red cells is the equivalent of saying to someone, "see those bags of groceries over there? You can take the food from the bags, but I will report you to the police if you actually take the groceries with the bags."

The Watchtower Society's blood policy has swiftly mutated into a deadly shell game. The policy aims to permit artificial blood (hemoglobin solutions like HemoPure and PolyHeme). While the leadership waits for the new blood products to hit the market, members continue to reject medically necessary transfusions of red cells and discontinue their chemotherapy treatments when platelet transfusions are needed even though platelets comprise less than 1/5 of 1% of blood volume. The average Jehovah's Witness has no realization of what is taking place.