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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1997)
just out W m arch 7, 1007 T i l Will they be heard? An NIH panel has laid partial responsibility for current HIV-infection rates at the door of government ▼ by Bob Roehr P oliticians are the greatest barrier to ef fective HIV prevention, said a National Institutes of Health advisory panel of experts. The 104th NIH Consensus De velopment Conference came to that con clusion after extensive study and a three-day public meeting which concluded Feb. 13 at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md. ‘The epidemic of AIDS is not quiescent, it is not disappearing, it is not part of public health history. It is a current, pressing and urgent public health emergency,” said David Reiss, M.D. He chaired the panel and is director of psychiatric research at George Washington University Medi cal Center in Washington, D.C. "AIDS is a preventabledis- ease, and the behavior placing the public health at greatest risk may be occurring in legis lative and other decision mak ing bodies,” Reiss said. The panel was unanimous in calling for prompt removal of the ban on federal funding of needle-exchange programs. It concluded that “thousands of lives are at risk” if this ban ------- is not removed. It also called for increased funding for substance abuse pro grams, lifting restrictions on sex education and increased availability of condoms. T he C onference The 12-member panel of outside experts was not designed to produce new data but rather pull together existing information and come to strong consensus policy recommendations. Clearly the epidemic has not left gay men behind, but it is expanding most rapidly among communities of color and the young. An estimated 40,000 to 80,000 new infections occur each year, half in people under age 25. Speakers pointed out a number of often myth- shattering facts uncovered through research: Sex-education programs do not encourage sexual activity among the young but have just the opposite effect. Those who are not yet sexually active are more likely to delay sex, while those who are sexually active tend to have fewer part ners and adopt safer sexual practices as a result of such programs. A 1992 national sexual survey, the most com prehensive in the field, conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, revealed that 52 percent of men who have sex with men over a five-year period also have sex with women during that same period. Only 15 percent disclose their same-sex activities to their female partners. And, as one researcher noted, in a recent study “about half the young men had sex with women, although they self-identified as gay rather than bisexual.” Panelist Martin Fishbein pointed out that there is a difference between using a condom and using it effectively. His example was simple and chill ing: “Everybody in this room who has used a condom has done this at least once,” he began. “Our culture says you do things in the dark, so you open up your condom package and you fumble around and realize it doesn’t go down. So you flip it over and [pull] it down. "Now stop and think. If somebody has gonor rhea [or HIV] and has a discharge, he has essen tially covered the outside of the condom with the pathogen. He is essentially introducing the patho gen directly onto the other person’s body.” T he E ye of the N eedle Current law bans the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs, in large part because of fear they might promote drug use. However the law does allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to lift that ban if she certifies that such a program contributes to the public health. More than a hundred studies have shown that the availability of a needle is not a principle factor in whether or not a person becomes an injection drug user. They have dem onstrated the effectiveness of needle-exchange pro grams in reducing the spread of HIV and other diseases through sharing of contami nated needles. But the first randomized control study came from Connecticut. In June 1992 that state changed its laws on drug paraphernalia to al low people to buy up to 10 syringes and needles at a time at a pharmacy without a prescription. A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that needle sharing dropped from 52 to 31 percent in Connecticut while it remained the same in areas that restricted the ability to get clean needles. The report concluded that unless the policy is changed, “Millions of unnecessary deaths will occur as a result.” “What we have reviewed and recommended in our statement should be clear enough,” said panel member Mickey Smith. “Hopefully she [HHS Secretary Donna Shalala] will hear it.” ombard _F L O W E 503 / 286-1330 SBf 2 Minivi «ili t . Located in Historic St. Johns 8 3 0 2 N. LOMBARD « PO RTLAND, OREGON 9 7 2 0 3 us for your auto repair needs “Mechanics you can trust” 284-5970 Computerized Car Care 3204 NE Broadway The Natural Gift j No S ex P lease , W e ’ re R eactionary The panel report singled out for special criti cism a measure that conservatives pushed through Congress last year to earmark 50 billion in HIV prevention funding for teaching sexual abstinence. Sections of the law mandate that eligible pro grams have as their “exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity” and that “a mutually faithful monogamous relation ship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.” The panel report said, “This approach places policy in direct conflict with science and ignores overwhelming evidence that other programs would be effective. Such abstinence-only programs can not be justified in the face of effective programs.” R S Proudly Serving The Greater Portland Metro Area 1)0 fragrances Custom Scenting Arom atherapy Women and Menb Skin Cans C ards & W rapping Bath • S p a • fo o t Can: Home Fragance G ift Baskets My experience benefits you whether buying or selling a home: from preparing your home for sale, to compiling and showing you housing options, then successfully negotiating your transaction. Your satisfaction is the ultimate goal! Donald Falk, GRI Multi-Million Dollar Producer G enocide “Call it what it is. It’s genocide,” said Tom Coates, head of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco. “The federal government’s inability and unwillingness to fund needle exchanges, and have drug treatment on demand, and to provide effective sex education for kids is genocide.” Anke Ehrhardt, director of the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University added, “And on top of that, it is clearly racist—there is no question.” Whatever the occasion ECCENTIAL d)) lotions & oils 710 NW 2}rd Avenue • 245-9743 S E Hawthorne Street • Vy6-J$j6 Office: (503) 287-9370 Voice Mail: (503) ZM-8945 Bridgetown Realty