THE AIDS GAME
by W.C. McRae
As the health crisis involving AIDS and
AIDS-related conditions enters its fifth year, it
has become a distressing reality that people
are not only dying of AIDS; people are living
from AIDS as well.
AIDS is big business. From AIDS-free ID
cards and shares in condom companies, to
the eye-catching headlines in National En
quirer, AIDS has provided the focus for a
vigorous quasi-medical, quasi-scientific set
of industries. Don’t think that the competition
between France and the (J.S. to find a vaccine
for AIDS is engendered by simple patriotism.
The “victor" will make a great deal of money,
and precisely such logic has been used to
change the Reagan Administration’s mind
about funding research. While some insur
ance companies are back-peddling rapidly
from coverage of people perceived to be in
high risk groups, at least one reg ional com
pany is offering special “AIDS insurance."
The policy, though, was characterized by one
Portland insurance broker as “ sham” and “a
rip -o ff' since any good health insurance pol
icy would provide the same coverage. The
insurance broker went on to say that the in
surance company in question was “ making
money from paranoia."
Even safe sex can be construed as a
market. Ads for phone sex (there’s little safer,
and for only $2!) fill page after page of the
Advocate.
With profit mentality entering increasingly
into the landscape of legitimate concerns re
garding AIDS, and safety from AIDS increas
ingly represented as something someone
sells to you, it may be too easy to transfer
cynicism to local AIDS service and educa
tional organizations. But to do so is to ignore
the achievements of CAP, CHESS/PAL, and
the Brinker Fund. These organizations
evolved in response to demands of the grow
ing health crisis. They were initially fueled by
concerned and devoted volunteers and
coordinated by administrators who made lit
tle or nothing, depending upon the level of
donations.
The labor has been worth it. The three
organizations represented by the Cascade
AIDS Network now coordinate over 300 vol
unteers active in some part of the person-to-
person counseling, education, companion
ship, and plain listening that is such a signific
ant part of the response to the AIDS situation.
Incidence of AIDS remains below projected
levels in Portland, attesting to the effective
ness of the education that was offered to
at-risk populations. At present, 45 PAL volun
teers are providing emotional and practical
support for PWAs and others impacted by the
condition; PAL sponsors four ongoing sup
port groups, and has trained 132 PALS to
meet the needs of those affected by AIDS.
To acknowledge the achievements of local
AIDS service organizations is also to
acknowledge that these organizations have
come of age. With this maturity, the maturity
that high visibility, success, and general sup
port give, comes responsibility. CAP and
CHESS fund seven staff positions to the tune
of about $9,000 a month. The money is well
deserved; that is not the point The point is
simply that we are no longer talking of fledg
ling organizations getting by on a shoestring.
These are sophisticated and effective organi
zations whose business is to coordinate vol
unteers to perform necessary tasks of educa
tion and counseling.
Funding for CAP and CHESS has recently
been available from the county and state, and
some money will be available from major
fundraisers. We hope the time is past when
concern for having the money to provide
services interferes with providing those
services. Not at all to make light of the gravity
of the situation regarding AIDS, but often talk
of "the AIDS crisis" seemed actually to refer
to crises within, or between, the organizations
themselves and the personalities that make
them up.
As we said, CAP and CHESS have come of
age. With funding more secure than it was in
the past, we expect even more from them in
the future.
Making a buck from AIDS
Just some of the things you might spend
your AIDS dollar on:
Freshettes, from Sani-Fem, is one of the
newest products in the AIDS game, a device
which enables women to pee standing up,
thus providing "Assurance against AIDS.” A
company spokesman described public toilet
seats as being of ‘uncertain but definitely
fatal infectiousness." although no evidence
exists that AIDS can be contracted from toilet
seats.
A clinic in Los Angeles applied for a busi
ness license to issue "AIDS-free ID Cards”.
Individuals applying for the card would, for a
fee, be tested for HTLV-3 antibodies, and if
found negative, would then be given an iden
tity card certifying him or her as free of AIDS.
Card carriers would be also provided with
inform ation about meetng other “AIDS-free"
card carriers. Of course, only frequent testing
— for a fee — could provide ultimate safety.
LA city inspectors closed the business in
January “ for building code violations.”
At $8.34, Virus Gard promotes itself as an
“ anti-viral” spray that, when sprayed on pub
lic surfaces, would kill viruses, thus prevent
ing AIDS transmission. Massachusetts Attor
ney General Francis Bellotti ordered the
company to halt its deceptive advertising,
since there is "no credible evidence" that
AIDS or herpes can be contracted from non
intimate contact.
You’ve heard that the Army is testing all its
personnel for antibodies to the HTLV-3 virus?
Well, Abbott Laboratories won an initial
$400,000 contract to provide 130,500 ELISA
tests and 52 automated instrument systems,
on which the test results are quantified. In
addition to this contract, Abbott Labs will
train the personnel to use the test and the
equipment. A one time deal? Not likely. The
Arm y’s pristine blood supply is guaranteed
only by frequent HTLV-3 tests, and only Ab
bott’s antibody test kits can be used with
Abbott’ instrument systems.
Stocks for make-up brushes soon may be
in a bull pattern of growth, thanks to Portland
Opera. According to sources, make-up
brushes are now burned after individual us
age, due to fear of AIDS transmission.
Or you could sponsor corporate seminars
on how to fire people with AIDS and get away
with it Law and Business, a division of
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, recently
charged $395 a head for a conference in
Boston on “AIDS and Drug Abuse in the
Work Place."
CA1HARTIC C O M IC S
...50..Y É 5...X M VERY
DISTURBED BY THE./
B E H A V IO R OF A W
LOT O f THE \jJH !TE \
M E N WHO C L A IM TO
W HAVE ytxj BEEN
ABLE TO CLEARLY
5 ARTfC ULATE
( 7 7/E5E ComPlEA
BE PR IM A R ILY YZl
OBSERVATION^
JO THESE M E N *
Çgt /ire
s u c c in c t l y !
z
tell
IY\AmA PI PNT y
/ T i f lt S f A
q u ic k
ty lT H P R A * * L >
! ¿A l l F ’ a z t A w o k k ï I
Hours:
Mon-Sat 10:30 am-6:30 pm
Sunday noon-5 pm
Peter de Garmo
Don Oman
3731 S.E. Hawthorne
Portland, Oregon 97214
(503) 232-1010
Featuring
THE BROWN BOMBER & DIVA TOUCHE FLAMBE
Them
/vr/.
|f RAISE M E TO
( b e n o b o d y ' s
FETISH i
ATTRACTED TOME A i)
A BLACK M A N f
w
Just Out, April. 19*'
t
11