Monday, May 15, 2006
CDC Finally Agrees With Reagan AIDS/HIV Commission 18 Years Late
It was in 1988 that "The Report of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic" was written and filed with President Ronald Reagan.Its recommendations were basically written by Republican Illinois State Representative Penny Pullen, the legislative expert on the subject in the country, in my opinion, and
nurse Kristine Gebbie, a liberal Public Health Department Director from both Washington and Oregon before becoming President Bill Clinton's AIDS czar. Perhaps Kristine's ability to compromise is one reason that she ended up on the hate poster below.
Shepherd Smith, who founded Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy (not the guy on TV), and I worked with Penny far into the morning on what we called the "public protection" side of the issue. Penny and Kristine met the next day and agreed upon most of the final recommendations.
One of the recommendations was "routine" HIV testing without pre-test counseling. The reasoning was that people deserved to know if they were HIV-infected, because that meant they were infectious.
Now, it is 18 years later and the CDC is finally getting around to implementing that sound recommendation.
I note that the son of another commissioner, Richard DeVos, is now a Republican candidate for governor in Michigan.I worked with Penny on the issue of HIV through 1992. I became so disgusted with the Centers for Disease Control lack of action to stem the AIDS epidemic that I started calling the agency, "The Centers for the Spread of Disease."
Even when it spent almost a half million dollars investigating the spread of HIV in Illinois prisons--about as much as it spent on its condom TV ads--Penny had to pry the results out of Atlanta with a Freedom of Information request.
The results?
1/3 of 1% of Illinois state prisoners seroconverted within one year of incarceration. And, only those who had been in a local jail for at least three months were tested.
Doesn't sound like much, does it?
If one projects that rate onto the general Illinois population, for the purpose of perspective, it would have turned out that the total of HIV infections among Illinois residents in one year would have equaled the actual total over the life of the epidemic.
Labels: Kristine Gebbie, Penny Pullen, Presidential Commission on HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Shepherd Smith
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I have heard recently that "they" are trying to pass a law requiring everyone to be tested for HIV. A law! Do you agree that there should be a law forcing me to tested for something...anything...against my will?
Of course, it would not be against your will. As I understand "routine testing," it would be done unless a patient says they don't want it done.
It would be a CDC guideline.
The difference is that now prior consent and counseling is required under Illinois state law.
It would be a CDC guideline.
The difference is that now prior consent and counseling is required under Illinois state law.
And then if you refuse testing, then are you flagged as being a potential carrier? What about the results attached to your name?
A heavy subject versus an annoyance shouldn't have much in common.
People who DON'T want solicitors at the front door have to put up an ugly sign in the window or door (which is usually ignored anyway) instead of people who DO want them putting up an ugly sign saying "Come on down!". The "NO" sign isn't only tacky, it announces to the world that you are somehow "unfriendly" or uncooperative or, perhaps, afraid of solicitors. It invites retaliation in some neighborhoods.
Seems to me there are other similar cases involving (ex.) finance,and other medical issues. Also, trying to recall if I just read about recent legislation pending that essentially forces everyone to become organ/tissue donors unless they keep screaming "NO".
In any case, from personal experiences at an excellent hospital, ignoring "NO" on authorization forms is quite common. They just do what they want and then later say "oops". You usually don't know about it because most of the time you're simply not awake or alert.
I truly understand the need to protect the majority from the few in the case of health issues. However, many people aren't assertive enough to say no and/or the question will be buried in small print, piles of forms, will sound too complicated to understand for some of our innocents/naive folks, or will be casually tossed in with directions on how to use the hospital menu services.
Of course, it's too late after the test is done to stop the medical information alarm bell from being rung throughout our personal records. "Secure" info really isn't that "secure". Records will be noted that affect employment, insurance, and so on. Everyone will be "outed" including those who are quietly aware and towing the line to NOT infect others.
The trade off bothers me.
I keep wondering what the next instance of pressure to say "NO" is around the corner.
People who DON'T want solicitors at the front door have to put up an ugly sign in the window or door (which is usually ignored anyway) instead of people who DO want them putting up an ugly sign saying "Come on down!". The "NO" sign isn't only tacky, it announces to the world that you are somehow "unfriendly" or uncooperative or, perhaps, afraid of solicitors. It invites retaliation in some neighborhoods.
Seems to me there are other similar cases involving (ex.) finance,and other medical issues. Also, trying to recall if I just read about recent legislation pending that essentially forces everyone to become organ/tissue donors unless they keep screaming "NO".
In any case, from personal experiences at an excellent hospital, ignoring "NO" on authorization forms is quite common. They just do what they want and then later say "oops". You usually don't know about it because most of the time you're simply not awake or alert.
I truly understand the need to protect the majority from the few in the case of health issues. However, many people aren't assertive enough to say no and/or the question will be buried in small print, piles of forms, will sound too complicated to understand for some of our innocents/naive folks, or will be casually tossed in with directions on how to use the hospital menu services.
Of course, it's too late after the test is done to stop the medical information alarm bell from being rung throughout our personal records. "Secure" info really isn't that "secure". Records will be noted that affect employment, insurance, and so on. Everyone will be "outed" including those who are quietly aware and towing the line to NOT infect others.
The trade off bothers me.
I keep wondering what the next instance of pressure to say "NO" is around the corner.
When I was following the HIV epidemic much more closely than now Gallup took a poll which asked if those polled were take part in behavior that was known to spread the AIDS virus, if they knew they were infected.
94% said they would not do so.
Yet, it is over a decade later that the CDC has taken this step that will allow more infected people to know that they are infectious.
I wonder how many lives would have been HIV-free, if this recommendation had been adopted in the late 1980's.
Somehow, I cannot accept that ignorance of one's having an infectious disease is good for society.
94% said they would not do so.
Yet, it is over a decade later that the CDC has taken this step that will allow more infected people to know that they are infectious.
I wonder how many lives would have been HIV-free, if this recommendation had been adopted in the late 1980's.
Somehow, I cannot accept that ignorance of one's having an infectious disease is good for society.
Unfortunately for the public's health, the CDC and the local public health departments are the source of why we have had such epidemics placed upon us. One doesn't have too look to far to realize that the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C, and Simian Virus 40 occured via FORCED VACCINATIONS UPON THE US PUBLIC. Children, who were otherwise born healthy, began to exhibit brain tumors that tissue typed out simian virus 40...ie monkey kidney tissue that was used for the cell line that vaccines were made from. There is a case pending in California right now involving a child who died from a vaccine induced cancer. This is the ugly secret that the CDC and health departments everywhere do not want you to know. As for the spread of HIV and Hepatitis, one only has to look to the Red Cross, and it's complicity in their both their ignorance by choice, and their greed, to realize that thousands upon thousands of dialysis and hemophiliac patients were given tainted blood....all of which we now pay for....(yes....via Medicaid). If you want to do a little research on this subject go to the following websites:
http://www.ahrp.org/cms/
http://www.chronicillnet.org/online/bensweet.html
http://www.bloodbook.com/part-4.html
http://bloodbook.com/part-3.html
http://bloodbook.com/part-3.html
And this one is one of the more interesting reads:
http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/Monopoly/HighRiskBlood.html
Personally, I don't think people should be so worried over whether or not they are being tested without their knowledge for HIV...it gets tested everytime you donate blood anyway....what should concern them more is what the government forces on them in the form of mass vaccination....there is more in those vaccines than just the antidote to disease...contaminated cell lines laced with cancers, mutated genetic material, and MERCURY just to name a few....I think I would rather just get the flu.
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http://www.ahrp.org/cms/
http://www.chronicillnet.org/online/bensweet.html
http://www.bloodbook.com/part-4.html
http://bloodbook.com/part-3.html
http://bloodbook.com/part-3.html
And this one is one of the more interesting reads:
http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/Monopoly/HighRiskBlood.html
Personally, I don't think people should be so worried over whether or not they are being tested without their knowledge for HIV...it gets tested everytime you donate blood anyway....what should concern them more is what the government forces on them in the form of mass vaccination....there is more in those vaccines than just the antidote to disease...contaminated cell lines laced with cancers, mutated genetic material, and MERCURY just to name a few....I think I would rather just get the flu.
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