What if, as Duesberg and others argue, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS? - SM
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/19/health/19CND-AIDS.html
ASHINGTON,
June 19 — With both Republicans and Democrats in Congress urging him to spend
more to fight global AIDS, President Bush announced today a $500 million
initiative to prevent expectant mothers from infecting their babies with the
virus that causes the disease.
The money which will be spent between now and 2004, will provide treatment to one million women a year, the White House said. The aim is to reduce the number of babies infected with the human immunodeficiency virus by 40 percent over a five-year period in 12 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
"The global devastation of HIV/AIDS staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience," Mr. Bush said. Noting that AIDS has already killed 20 million people and could kill 40 million more, Mr. Bush added, "The wasted human lives that lie behind these numbers are a call to action for every person on the planet and every government."
The announcement, at a White House Rose Garden ceremony, comes as Mr. Bush is preparing to attend next week's G-8 economic summit in Canada, where he will be under intense pressure to demonstrate that he is committed to increasing financial aid to foreign nations.
Advocates for people with AIDS offered mixed reaction to the program. Some praised Mr. Bush, who has until now resisted spending more on global AIDS, for taking a leadership role. Others complained the initiative is too little, too late; they noted that Congress has already appropriated $200 million for the initiative, and the remaining $300 million will not be available until 2004.
"They are claiming $500 million bucks, but that is claiming credit for monies that were passed by the United States Congress only over the strenuous objections of the White House," said Paul Davis of the Health Gap Coalition, a a nonprofit network that works to increase access to medicine for patients in developing nations. "They fought us every inch of the way until all we ended up with was a meager 200 million bucks."
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