The protesters want the US to spend more fighting Aids
Posted on 07/09/2002 8:54:38 AM PDT by Kermit
Tuesday, 9 July, 2002, 13:17 GMT 14:17 UK
About 40 people climbed onto the platform at the Barcelona meeting while US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson was speaking.
The protesters were criticising the amount being spent by the US government fighting Aids across the world.
 They can shout, but that doesn't deter me or the president one bit  |
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Tommy Thompson, US Health and Human Services Secretary
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Security officers shielded Mr Thompson from the protesters, who shouted "shame, shame" and blocked him from being seen by the audience.
Committed
Mr Thompson then left the platform and held a news conference behind the auditorium.
He later promised to meet the protesters to discuss their concerns.
Speaking to journalists, he said: "The United States is passionately committed to this international fight.
"I understand that people are passionate about this and want to blame the United States, but the United States under President Bush has doubled the amount of resources it provides for the fight against AIDS."
He added: "I understand that people want to yell and scream, but they would serve their cause much better... if they would help other countries see the light.
 Mr Thompson defended US policy on Aids
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"They can shout, but that doesn't deter me or the president one bit," he said.
Last month, President Bush announced a five-year $500m initiative to stem transmission of HIV from mothers to their children in Africa and the Caribbean.
More than 2 million women carrying the Aids virus give birth each year, and 90 percent of those pass it on to their young during pregnancy, childbirth or nursing.
Opposition
But critics said the initiative was "grossly underfinanced".
Aids activists complain that Bush is ignoring people already living with the disease.
They want the US Government to contribute more to the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Over 15,000 doctors, politicians and campaigners are attending the XIV International Aids Conference in Barcelona, which continues until Friday 12 July.
And the Euroweenies profess consternation at why the US doesn't jump up and salute every Euroweenie scheme that comes down the line like the International Criminal Court or Kyoto. They don't even let are governmental officials speak.
In my opinion, the US isn't unilateral enough, by far!
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James Locke of England, an HIV Positive patient, is photographed at the press center in Barcelona for the XIV International AIDS Conference Monday July 8 2002. Locke started to take a new trial AIDS drug called T-20 in April 2001 and claims it has saved his life. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle) - Jul 08 7:08 AM ET |
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Milly Katana, of Uganda, who sits on the board of the Global Aids Fund and is HIV positive, speaks during a press conference the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Monday July 8 2002. The United States must revive the passion it once had for tackling the AIDS epidemic, otherwise infection rates could start climbing again, the U.S. AIDS prevention chief said Sunday. (AP Photo/Cesar Rangel) - Jul 08 7:08 AM ET |
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AIDS activists hold balloons of the globe as they march near Palau Sant Jordi demanding aid for the developing countries during the opening ceremony of the world's AIDS conference in Barcelona July 7, 2002. Activists and top officials have united in calling for cheap, life-saving drugs to be made available to combat AIDS in poor countries. (Albert Gea/Reuters) - Jul 08 9:20 AM ET |
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Camille Cabral, of France, a member of the Act-Up French AIDS group protests at the Roche drugs compaqny stand at the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, Monday July 8 2002. Act-Up activists invaded the stand to protest the high cost of drugs to fight AIDS. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle) - Jul 08 11:58 AM ET |
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Members of the AIDS activist group Act Up protest at the Roche pharmaceutical firm booth at the an AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, July 8, 2002. Act Up activists took over the booth to protest the high cost of drugs to fight AIDS in developing countries. (AP Photo/Cesar Rangel) - Jul 08 1:12 PM ET |
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Members of the French AIDS action group Act-up Paris protest at the International AIDS conference in Barcelona July 9, 2002. The group were demanding cheaper AIDS treatment for the developing world. Photo by Albert Gea/Reuters - Jul 09 8:31 AM ET |
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Tommy Thompson, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, tries to speak while being heckled at a meeting at the XIV International AIDS conference in Barcelona Tuesday July 9 2002. AIDS activists prevented the audience from hearing Thompson. About 40 people demanding more U.S. funding clambered onto the lecture platform as Thompson tried to address the 14th International AIDS Conference; some waved placards declaring "Wanted: Bush and Thompson for murder and neglect of people with AIDS." (AP Photo/Denis Doyle) - Jul 09 11:10 AM ET |
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Members of the French AIDS action group "Act-up" from Paris invade the hall of the conference on July 9, 2002, during the address by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson at the XIV International AIDS conference in Barcelona. The group is demanding cheaper AIDS treatment for the developing world. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino - Jul 09 10:20 AM ET |
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Members of the AIDS activist group Act Up take the stage and heckle U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson during his address to delegates of the XIV International AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, July 9, 2002. The group were demanding more active U.S. government support in the fight against AIDS. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle) - Jul 09 10:02 AM ET |
Are these the same people that have make AIDS a political disease? The same ones that are responsible for the recent results showing that most young men with AIDS are completely unaware they have it, and thus exacerbate the spread of the pestilence with unsafe sexual processes?
One might conclude that the AIDS community wants the disease to spread, especially outside the homosexual community, to force the US and other countries to come up with a cure other than abstinence and safe sex.
I guess "riding bareback" is more important than preventing the spread of the disease to their lovers and their families. Truly sad.
Aside from immorality, their idiotic demands to remove DDT from the shelves are not helping those with Malaria.
AIDS AND HOMOSEXUALS
EVOLUTION IN ACTION
[*Arse Invaders Death Syndrome -- (AKA Wrath of God Syndrome)]
The last Conference I attended was a veritable abortion, replete with disruptive "street theater" by perverts/"activists" and woefully lousy science -- which had/has increasingly been pushed aside by "social science" conference sessions which were Kumbaya-fests. Add to that the venue of the French colony of Montreal and you have the makings of a real nausea extravaganza.
For many of those in attendance, AIDS had become their religion, and there even was widespread support for the establishment of "all-AIDS" Ph.D. programs. Sort of like "feminist studies," I suppose.
The next AIDS Conference was held in San Francisco, and it, too, turned out to be a donnybrook -- or so I was told. I opted out of attending that one, largely because of its " Gay Mecca" venue and the fact that none of my CCWs was good in California (/sarcasm).
I do review the proceedings os subsequent Conferences on CR-ROM, but such have confitrmed the wisdom of my continued abstention. I have fond memories, though, of the Conference which was held in Stockholm and preceded Montreal by two years. The Swedes had their army and police out in force, no shenanigans took place -- other than a peaceful Eurotrash march and vigil -- and the science was still passable. And Stockholm is a truly magical place.
I now do my best to avoid dealing with AIDS issues, both professionally and in my personal life. The disease is, for the most part, preventable and in fact kills and disables far fewer persons than do heart disease, diabetes, stroke, malaria, and, of course, cancer, to name a few. And AIDS research is funded at levels which are dramatically disproportionate to its relative impact on public health worldwide.
The office is quiet this week, as six of my associates are AIDS afficianados attending the Conference in Barcelona. I only hope that they make it home without meeting up with Al Qaeda and its affiliates.
As for me, I only regret having not gone to my treasured Spain for any reason............
This shows how irrational the international left is. We didn't create Aids, we don't spread Aids, and we do a lot to spread anti-Aids education. If anyone gets HIV today, it's most likely to be their own fault, for doing things they shouldn't be doing like sharing needles and having unprotected sex.
Why is it our responsibility to stop Aids in Zimbabwe, anyway? We do a lot, more than we have to. We spend more than any nation on earth on Aids research which will benefit them and has benefitted them. They need to take responsibility for themselves. If they think curing Aids is the #1 responsibility of the world (which it isn't, it's a very manageable disease - just avoid risky behavior) they should tell their governments to start spending as much as we do on Aids research.
Mutant HIV resists drugs
Scripps Howard News Service
Barcelona, Spain- Mutant strains of the AIDS virus resistant to many of the newest drugs are turning up in larger numbers of newly infected gay men in San Francisco.
A five-year study of new HIV infections in the city-relased here on the eve of the 14th International AIDS Conference-also found:
)In 1996, only 2.5 percent of those tested were infected by a virus resistant to two different classes of drugs. That number rose to 13 percent by 2000.
) Resistance had developed quickly to the newest class of AIDS drugs, top-of-the-line medications known as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
) The mutated viruses are being spread by patients currently under treatment, in whom the virus is evolving ways to sidestep medicines targeted against it.
The troubling findings are based on a UCSF study of the genetic fingerprints of virus from blood samples of patients known to be infected within one year of the test.
Dr. Frederick Hecht, coauthor of the study, said the research is important because patterns detected among the city's closely studied population of HIV-infected men are early indicators of how the epidemic will evolve elsewhere.
I say, let nature take its corpse[sic]. I have no more compassion for those who continue bad behavior. I'm tired of doing what's right and paying for those who do wrong.
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