File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-12-15.190, message 48


From: "R Pearson" <spectres-AT-innotts.co.uk>
Subject: M-I: Fw: No Cuts in AIDS Research/12-11-96
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 18:45:27 -0000


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From: Living Marxism <lm-AT-junius.co.uk>
To: Multiple recipients of <LM-commentary-AT-www.junius.co.uk>
Subject: No Cuts in AIDS Research/12-11-96
Date: 11 December 1996 11:37

We encourage debate and discussion on these commentaries. If you would like
to discuss further the ideas in this commentary, go to:

            <http://www.junius.co.uk/interaction$forum/LMC>

LIVING MARXISM COMMENTARY

No Cuts in AIDS Research

Dr Stuart Derbyshire calls for redirection in AIDS funding away from the
moral crusade against sex and towards finding a cure

The Department of Health has released figures revealing the level of
funding allocated to AIDS research and care in the UK. These figures  were
seized by a number of newspapers as an example of the imbalance of funding
allocated to AIDS in relation to other diseases. A number of national
dailies ran features alleging that AIDS gets 'too much cash'.

The real tragedy of AIDS is not that too much money has been spent on it at
all, but that the vast majority of the money has been spent not on finding
a cure but on a moral campaign to scare the wits out of everybody. The main
thrust of the government's campaign has been to assert that everybody is at
risk and everybody must take precautions. Rather than acknowledging that
any heterosexual AIDS epidemic was a myth and that high risk groups should
be targeted, the government created a moral climate to terrify the whole
population about the dangers of sex.

The Daily Mail jubilantly pointed to one example of high spending on AIDS
to 'prove' their point:

"In the Northern and Yorkshire region, the sum allocated this year to the
district health authorities for Aids prevention and treatment was £13.07
million. With just 59 cases in the region over the previous 12 months, that
was the equivalent of an astonishing £221,508 per case."

The article went on to reveal that not only is AIDS not particularly
prevalent - 541 deaths in 1995 compared with 140,790 deaths from cancer -
it is also prejudiced. Of the 12 798 people diagnosed with AIDS since 1982,
only 166 were not in a high risk group. 'Gays and junkies get AIDS, the
remaining population can rest easy' was the tenor of the argument.

Regular readers of Living Marxism would have already known this, in fact
they would have known this for nearly ten years:

        'There is no good evidence that AIDS is likely to spread rapidly in
the
        West among heterosexuals.'

(The Truth about the AIDS Panic, 1987 by Living Marxism writers Dr Michael
Fitzpatrick and Don Milligan in 1987, at the beginning of the official
scare campaign surrounding AIDS.)

None of this should be allowed to detract from the devastation of AIDS.
That 9 148 people have died of Aids since 1982 is a tragedy by any standard
regardless of how or why the disease was contracted. The idea that funding
for AIDS would not have been forthcoming had we all known that it was
minority disease back in the early eighties is insulting both to gay men
and to medical professionals. Far from helping research into AIDS, the
moral claptrap, lies and evasions that have surrounded the disease since
its discovery have quite considerably held research back.

Millions of pounds have been poured into useless campaigns to moralise the
nation's youth regarding the virtues of condoms and monogamy.  Millions
more have been wasted on testing hundreds of thousands of people for HIV
who literally ran a greater risk of being killed on the way to the clinic.
Finally, there has emerged an entire industry of counsellors, health
educators, statisticians and advisors who have done nothing more than
terrify vast numbers of people, mislead basic research into anticipating an
enormous epidemic and, of course, waste money.

Despite all this, real progress in AIDS research has been made. The new
generation of antiviral drugs have been shown to completely eliminate HIV
>from some patients. For the first time in a decade there is hope for those
who are infected with HIV. How much more quickly these advances could have
been made if AIDS had not been subject to political manipulation we will
never know but one thing is certain, if money is now pulled on Aids
research the advances will slow down. The money currently being wasted on
moralising campaigns should be diverted into basic AIDS research and
treatment. £221 508 per patient can be considered a good starting figure,
more may be necessary. The fact that other diseases receive only a fraction
of the funding for AIDS is pitiful and should be seen as disgraceful in its
own right,  not used as an argument to cut AIDS research.

Scientists need to learn to retain an independent stance when carrying out
their investigations (whether on AIDS, BSE, E-coli or anything else) and
should not be defensive about receiving decent funding.

Dr. Stuart Derbyshire
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center



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