It appears the Red Cross and American Association of Blood Banks have done an admirable job of protecting America's blood supply in the wake of AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, etc., without any OTA assessment of US blood policy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22895504

J Public Health Policy. 2012 Aug;33(3):344-7. doi: 10.1057/jphp.2012.17.

A Congressional counterpoint: Challenging the Reagan Administration on the safety of blood and blood products.

Robbins A.

Source

Journal of Public Health Policy Editorial Office, 130 Appleton Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116, USA. E-mail: Anthony.Robbins@tufts.edu.

Abstract

When the US Centers for Disease Control met a hard wall of political restraint in attempting a full response to the emergency of AIDS in the early 1980s, it was possible to move toward protection of blood and blood products from the legislative branch of government instead - despite resistance from the Red Cross, blood banks, and the Reagan Administration. A Congressional creation, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), received a request from the author, made on behalf of his employer, the Chairman of a Congressional Committee and a Member of the OTA Congressional Board. He asked the OTA to assess US blood policy in light of scientific and technological developments - most importantly the new disease, AIDS. The OTA issued its report in January 1985. In 1995, a new Republican majority in both legislative chambers eliminated the OTA - and thus a valuable source of policy analysis of scientific issues independent of the executive branch.