                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       July 30, 1996
     
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National 
AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a 
public service only. Providing this information does not 
constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC National AIDS 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this 
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC 
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this 
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
     
     
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"Recalculating Death-Benefit Math"
"Protect the Innocent"
"Digest: Johnson & Johnson"
"Across the USA: Rhode Island"
"For Gay Men, A Cultural Change?"
"32 Women With HIV Virus Offered A Setting With Support, 
Stability"
"AIDS Cases on the Rise for African-Americans" 
"No Country Immune to AIDS"
"Behind the Statistics"
"ACT-UP vs. PETA: Clash of the Titans" 
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"Recalculating Death-Benefit Math"
New York Times (07/30/96) P. D1; Dunlap, David W.
     With the advent of promising new drugs that could extend the
lives of AIDS patients, companies that buy these individuals' 
life insurance policies and collect their death benefits are 
looking to other terminally ill patients.  One such company, 
Dignity Partners, has stopped taking new applications from AIDS 
patients altogether.  Other firms say they are reducing their 
dependence on AIDS patients and trying to attract people with 
other terminal illnesses.  AIDS patients will still be able to 
sell their policies, say company executives, but they may not 
receive as high a price as they would have a year ago.
     
"Protect the Innocent"
New York Times (07/30/96) P. A17; Murphy, Patrick T.
     Women who are infected with HIV and who become pregnant
should be held responsible child abuse, claims Patrick T. Murphy, 
the Public Guardian of Cook County, Ill., in a New York Times 
commentary.  Murphy says he has seen cases of women who 
repeatedly give birth to children with HIV or cocaine in their 
systems.  He suggests that a woman who has two children born with 
drugs in their body or one with HIV should be ordered to appear 
before a judge.  Medical or drug therapy or psychological 
counseling could be ordered, including birth control counseling.  
Women who refuse counseling or give birth to another child with 
the same problems should be prosecuted, the author says, for 
child abuse or assault.  Murphy suggests that with the threat of 
going to prison and losing their children, many women might take 
such measures seriously.
     
"Digest: Johnson & Johnson"
Washington Post (07/30/96) P. C2
     Johnson & Johnson has filed suit to challenge an
arbitrator's order that the company must turn its home HIV 
testing business over to the executive who developed it.  Elliot 
Millenson sold his Confide test to Johnson & Johnson in 1993 and 
was later fired by the company.
     
"Across the USA: Rhode Island"
USA Today (07/30/96) P. 8A
     Citing privacy rights and confidentiality, AIDS researchers
in Rhode Island urged Gov. Almond to veto a bill that would give 
state prison guards the names of HIV-positive inmates.  Almond 
has not indicated whether he will sign the bill.
     
"For Gay Men, A Cultural Change?"
New York Times (07/30/96) P. A16; Masters, Troy
     In a letter to the editor of the New York Times, Troy
Masters, publisher of LGNY, a newspaper for lesbians and gay men, 
objects to the suggestion in a previous Times article that gay 
men may not be capable of the cultural changes needed to reduce 
the spread of HIV.  Masters points out that HIV education in the 
gay community focusing on harm reduction has been successful. He 
notes that more efforts are needed to advocate change in the gay 
community's sexual attitudes and culture, where multi-partner sex 
continues to be a problem.
     
"32 Women With HIV Virus Offered A Setting With Support, 
Stability"
Houston Chronicle (07/29/96) P. 14A; Binette, Chad
     Friendly Haven, a housing center for women with HIV, offers 
discounted rent, emotional support, substance abuse counseling, 
education, and job training for 32 Houston women and their 
children.  The project, coordinated by AIDS Foundation Houston, 
may expand this year if the City Council allows Friendly Haven to 
use $1.3 million, about one-third of a federal grant for Housing 
Opportunities for Persons with AIDS.  About 75 percent of the 
women are recovering drug or alcohol addicts, but some women who 
enter the program drop out because they cannot live drug-free.
     
"AIDS Cases on the Rise for African-Americans" 
Houston Chronicle (07/29/96) P. 1A; SoRelle, Ruth
     Last year marked the first time more new AIDS cases were
reported among African Americans in Harris County, TX, than among 
whites, health officials said.  Targeted HIV education is 
therefore needed, noted local experts.  In 1995, there were 416 
new AIDS cases in whites and 460 in African Americans, according 
to the Houston Health and Human Services Department.  African 
Americans accounted for 9 percent of all AIDS cases in Houston in 
1985, compared to 44.3 percent in 1995.  The Texas Department of 
Health recently reported that Harris County had the state's 
highest rate of HIV-positive mothers, and a disproportionate 
number of them are African American.  Dr. Joseph Gathe Jr., a 
community AIDS physician, says leaders in the African American 
community are reluctant to speak out about the threat of AIDS.
     
"No Country Immune to AIDS"
Houston Chronicle (07/29/96) P. 6E; SoRelle, Ruth
     Of the 7,500 adults and 1,000 children who are infected with
HIV every day, 94 percent live in developing countries.  Peter 
Piot, director of the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS, said 
that most of those infected are between the ages of 15 and 44 and 
that sexual exposure is the most common mode of transmission.  
Three-fifths of all adults with HIV and four-fifths of all 
HIV-positive women live in sub-Saharan Africa.  In some 
countries, AIDS has even become a threat to economic development. 
Although AIDS had barely touched Asia 10 years ago, an estimated 
2 million to 5 million people in India and 750,000 people in 
Thailand are now infected with the virus that causes AIDS. 
Moreover, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and China also 
have growing AIDS epidemics.  In the United States, about 750,000 
people have HIV, including 12,000 children.  The rate of new 
infections in this country is decreasing, but more women, blacks, 
and Hispanics are becoming infected.
     
"Behind the Statistics"
Maclean's (07/15/96) Vol. 109, No. 29, P. 43; Goulding, Warren
     Native Canadians claim that Health Canada's poor reporting
of AIDS cases in their population reflects the larger problem of 
monitoring conditions in the isolated aboriginal communities.  As 
of January this year, the national agency had documented only 176 
AIDS cases among native Canadians.  The figure accounts for less 
than 2 percent of the country's total reported cases in a group 
that makes up 3 percent of the population.  The conditions among 
native Canadians--including poor medical care, poor nutrition, 
and lack of attention to infections--are conducive to the spread 
of HIV.  In addition, a disproportionate number of natives are at 
higher risk for HIV infection because they work in the sex trade, 
use injection drugs, or are prison inmates.  These factors are 
compounded by the native community's homophobia and denial in 
terms of AIDS.  Darcy Albert, leader of a support group for gays, 
said he would be uncomfortable telling other Native Canadians 
that he is gay and HIV-positive.
     
"ACT-UP vs. PETA: Clash of the Titans"
Weekly Standard (07/08/96-07/15/96) Vol. 1, No. 42, P. 28; 
Labash, Matt
     Although animal rights activists are seldom challenged, this
year's Animal Awareness Week in Washington in June was marked by 
protests from the biomedical research community and AIDS 
activists.  The Foundation for Biomedical Research held press 
conferences to argue that animal research is necessary for 
medical advances, citing examples like the polio vaccine and 
antibiotics.  The biomedical community was aided by the 
Washington chapter of ACT-UP, an AIDS activist group not usually 
aligned with the medical establishment.  Animal rights groups 
claim that animal testing is not necessary for AIDS research, 
presenting a conflict for celebrities who say they support both 
causes.  At the "Animal Congress" held at the U.S. Air Arena in 
Landover, Md., ACT-UP Washington held a protest, exchanging jeers 
with gay animal activists before being arrested.
     
     


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