 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Contents on this page were published in the May, 1993 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1993 WFP Collective, Inc.
SMALL STORIES
ABOUT
BIG NEWS
Short of a discussion of that far-reaching conclusion, a look at some of the numbers that led the organization to make such a statement turns up plenty of reasons for scientists to reevaluate their search for treatments and cures. The data add to the emerging belief that factors beyond exposure to HIV play a role in whether a person gets infected and how quickly the disease advance in an afflicted person.
Among the factors the Council identified are chronic drug use, malnutrition and anemia, blood transfusions, other forms of autoimmunity, high doses of antibiotics or anesthetics, and multiple infections, according to a March 17 article in the Wall Street Journal.
The Council examined several high-risk groups in compiling its evidence.
For example, in major US cities such as New York and LA, the Council found that 5 to 10 percent of female prostitutes are believed to be HIV-positive. Nearly all of those infected are IV drug users, the Council found. And, surprisingly, in only a few known instances has an HIV-positive, female prostitute infected a client - and in nearly all of those cases both people were IV drug users.
In looking at another group - HIV-positive hemophiliacs - the Council found that if AIDS were the only factor at work, at least half of these people would have developed AIDS by now. But only 1,500 of the estimated 15,000 hemophiliacs infected by HIV between 1981 and 1984 now have AIDS. And, like female prostitutes, hemophliacs have been connected with only a very few cases of HIV transmission.
The Council also looked at cases of tertiary, or third-party, transmission of HIV. It found that there has never been a reported case in a Western country of a drug-free heterosexual who was infected by HIV from a high-risk carrier (hemophiliac, frequent drug user, etc.) who then passed on the infection to another healthy, drug-free person. Translation: healthy people who don't do a lot of drugs may not be as susceptible to contracting the disease as an unhealthy drug addict.
Other Council findings further back up the contention that external factors may be related to vulnerability to HIV infection and the advance of AIDS - more reason for "high-risk" groups to worry. But what appears to be good news for those not in a high-risk group could actually have deadly results.
Already facing enough denial and resistance, AIDS workers have stepped up their warnings to straight people who don't do drugs and stay healthy not to think that they're immune from HIV if they sleep around and don't protect themselves. Many close to the AIDS issue are worried that the Council's report - however helpful it may be to medical researchers - may set off an upswing in casual, unprotected sex.
Puget, regarded by many in the utility industry as a leader in electricity conservation programs, has for many months run a highly polished television commercial telling us how conservation is the company's "highest priority." "Conservation ," the ad says, "It is us. It is you."
Anybody who watches any television at all likely has seen the commercial: With soothing music in the background, the ad shows a picturesque view of electric transmission lines stringing across a mountain ridge and a family lounging in its living room. At the end, the ad flashes a toll-free number for people to call to get information about the Puget's conservation programs.
The state Attorney General's Office, however, has deemed that these warm-and-fuzzy images are not compelling enough for a Puget customer to reach for a phone immediately and dial the 800-number, and the state has been warning the Bellevue-based utility to interject a call-to-action in the ads; that is, to describe specific conservation programs in which a customer can participate by calling the company.
At issue with the Attorney General is the fact that Puget's commercials are paid for by its customers - through the rates they pay for electricity. Puget's customers, the AG reasoned, should not get soaked for the cost of fancy ads that merely promote Puget's corporate image and half-heartedly promote energy conservation. (The Northwest's energy predicament makes the ads particularly galling: With salmon-recovery efforts limiting the energy output of dozens of hydroelectric dams, conservation is viewed as one of the keys to avoiding a regional energy crisis.)
The Attorney General's threat was real: it could recommend to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission - which sets electricity rates of private utilities - to forbid Puget from using ratepayer money to pay for the ads. By ignoring the AG's warning, the company stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Puget finally got the message. During the past few weeks, new 30-second ads have been telling us how Puget's 700,000 customers can get energy-saving low-flow faucets and showerheads and compact-fluorescent lights from the company. The old ad is still on the air, though it is being rotated with the new ones.
|
|
|
|
|