Fisherman,
There is no contraction between the quotes we have both provided, although I would view organizational and reference works as more authoritative than entry-level primers used to acquaint the public with basic JW beliefs.
--Unless of course, it is your contention that the mention of blood in the Decree was more than simply a reiteration of the prohibition against eating it, which predates the Law.
I've already addressed the JW selective quotation of Chumash sources. You might want to read the SC in context if you're actually interested in that sort of thing, but as you said yourself, Judaism "...is not the standard for interpreting the Bible according to JW."
You and I have already discussed (In other threads) the grammar of the Decree at length. -That the infinitive use of the middle voice was used to reiterate existing prohibitions, which The New World Translation accurately renders as, "To keep abstaining...from blood."
Invoking a partial predicate apart from the context that completes it (As you have done above) is ungrammatical and you should know better.
Additionally, I can assure you that JW's can and do hold professions in the medical field and that the position of the JW parent organization for at least the last 30 years has been that any use/handling of blood that arises thereof is a matter of conscience, provided it is not for the purposes of transfusion or consumption.
Finally, your insistence that transfusion and consumption are physical (As opposed to moral) equivalents is incompatible with JW views on medicine as they have evolved over the years. Specifically, it sets up glaring contradictions with current positions on the allowance of hemoglobin based blood substitutes; the allowance of organ transplants and the prohibition on autologous transfusion.
Like I said, they abandoned that argument years ago and that they no longer teach it can be confirmed via letter or phone call.
