Posted on 07/18/2004 12:50:44 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -
HIV experts criticized Washington's decision to send a pared-down delegation to the International AIDS Conference beginning Sunday as an intrusion of politics into science.
Conference organizers see the U.S. move as a reaction to the conference's lack of focus on abstinence as a way of preventing the spread of HIV - a pillar of President Bush's policy on AIDS.
A major debate is scheduled at the conference on the merits of the Bush-backed ABC strategy, which stands for "Abstinence, Being Faithful, Condom Use" - in that order. Critics say promoting condoms should come first.
Carol Bellamy, the executive director of UNICEF, said the policy ignores reality.
"ABC is insufficient when it comes to women in general. A: Rape doesn't respect abstinence; B: their partners are supposed to be but that is increasingly not occurring; and C: condoms are generally in the control of men. So when it comes to women and AIDS, let's understand the insufficiency of A, B and C," she said.
Dr. Edward Green, a Harvard research scientist and member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said past conferences were biased against research on successful abstinence programs.
"That's one of the reasons the U.S. government sent a smaller delegation," he said. "There was concern that the organizers of the conference would have another sort of mutual admiration society of condoms and pills, condoms and pills - what they've been talking about this whole time."
The six-day conference, drawing nearly 20,000 policy makers, scientists, health officials and activists, is the largest global meeting on the disease, which has killed 20 million people so far and is now afflicting 38 million.
But the United States, a global leader in AIDS research, is sending 50 delegates, a fraction of the 236 it sent to the last conference in Barcelona, Spain, in 2002. U.S. officials say they want to cut costs, from the $3.6 million it spent on the Barcelona trip to $500,000 this time.
Conference organizers are not convinced.
The decision was "entirely based on politics," a view widely held by scientists and others attending the event, said Joep Lange, president of the International AIDS Society and a co-chair of the conference.
The U.S. move sends "a strange signal" from the largest donor nation to anti-AIDS efforts, Lange said. "We desperately need the U.S., and we are extremely grateful to the U.S.," he said. "But these ideological games are very counterproductive."
The rude treatment received by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson by hecklers among activists in Barcelona is also seen as part of the reason for the pared-down delegation, he said.
The decision by Thompson's agency meant that dozens of presentations had to be canceled after U.S. researchers had already agreed to attend, Lange said.
"For those people who are doing work in the field and now can't present, it's a tragedy," he told The Associated Press.
HHS spokesman William Pierce told the AP from Washington that the department informed researchers months ago to limit attendance to international conferences.
With technology allowing rapid communication of ideas, the department decided that conference money could be better spent elsewhere, Pierce said Friday.
A May 4 letter from five U.S. congressmen to conference organizers asked that the ABC approach be the "centerpiece" of the conference.
So now rape in Africa is George Bush's fault?
Condoms don't work, but the "experts" don't care. Maybe their agenda is to spread their feifdom at the expense of people lives.
Why do these neocommunists believe that they can be incivil and abusive and we have to take it without response. That is what Whoopi said. She has a right to express herslf freely but the objective of her abuse does not. Uners, stick it in your ear!
Next year, let's send no one. These conferences are infected with the social equivalent of HIV--socialist parasites looking to ruin the societal systems that provide immunity from oppression, i.e. personal freedom and responsibility, and free enterprise.
A Pennsylvania company called Orasure Technologies Inc. just got approval for a 20 min. test for HIV. This mouth swab can be used the world over for quick testing. It will be a valuable tool to identify and attack this disease.
Yes, along with everything else that is bad in the world. I'm getting sick of these people, they hate us, but they want us to solve all the world's problems.
Yo! World! Keep your damn pants on and you won't get AIDS. Listen to the President of Uganda and leave W alone.
Ignorant fools.
""ABC is insufficient when it comes to women in general. A: Rape doesn't respect abstinence; B: their partners are supposed to be but that is increasingly not occurring; and C: condoms are generally in the control of men. So when it comes to women and AIDS, let's understand the insufficiency of A, B and C," she said."
Uhhh, moron? OK so these African women are getting AIDS through rape, so abstinence won't always work. Fine, I understand that.
BUT...
If these women can't stop the men from raping them, how will they force the men to use condoms? I've never heard of a rapist using a condom!
Therefore...the "just send condoms" plan won't work!
replace "condom" with "castration." I bet that will work better.
"Therefore...the "just send condoms" plan won't work!"
Yes, they don't even realize the illogic of their position. Illogic is actually too kind, it is more like pure insanity. In fact, there are probably many people in lunatic asylums today who aren't as delusional as these people. AIDS will be cured, if only the USA sends more money, or delegates, or less hamburgers.
But John F'in K would like to hand control of our nation over to this lot. And seemingly 1/2 of America wouldn't mind.
Fair enough.
And, Norton sez UNICEF couldn't reflect reality if it was chrome plated.
Some people just can't be pleased.
Since the origin of AIDS is believed to have began in Africa maybe that is where the root of the cure is-not from witholding tax from my paycheck. Cut the funding and see how bad we are then.
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