THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507090059
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Sen. Jesse Helms wants to cut back funding for AIDS research and treatment because people with the disease engage in ``deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct.''
But not all AIDS sufferers are homosexual or intravenous drug users, which is what Helms is getting at. Does Helms believe hemophiliacs and heterosexual victims of the disease guilty of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct too?
Furthermore, if care is denied to people because the disease that's killing them offends a senator, this could set a dangerous precedent. What if some other brontosaurus in Congress decides that only gluttons get diabetes? No more funds?
Finally, it isn't sex or drugs that cause AIDS, but the AIDS virus. It is odd to suppose that we will now begin deciding which medical threats to take seriously based not on the danger of the disease but the ability of its victims to pass some sort of moral litmus test.
Senator Helms has had prostate cancer and a colon infection. Who knows what lifestyle choices may have contributed to them. He's had heart bypass and valve-replacement surgery after decades of smoking. Helms says AIDS patients deserve what they get for having engaged in unnatural acts. But inhaling burning tobacco is hardly a natural act. Shouldn't Helms have been denied medical care because smoking is deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct?
Not according to Helms. He thinks more money should be spent on coronary disease, no doubt because it is dear to his heart. Yet heart disease now receives more money than any other malady, six times more than AIDS and twice as much as cancer.
Helms' outburst only proves that funding for medical research should not be a popularity contest. Insofar as possible, funds for medical research should be spent where they will do the most good. They should be allocated on scientific grounds, not because of prejudice, personal whim or political power. Doctor knows best, as they say.
Helms may be an expert on divisive politics, Old Testament morality, gay bashing and self-promotion, but his medical credentials are nil.
AIDS is a dangerous virus - 100 percent deadly. Unlike cancer or heart disease, AIDS is communicable. If we aren't presently in the middle of an epidemic, one is possible. A cure is needed. And AIDS is not alone. Throughout history, man's greatest enemies have been parasitic diseases, bacterial diseases and viral diseases. The more we learn about them, the better. Knowledge gained about AIDS may help defeat a host of similar viruses.
In short, there are compelling reasons to fund AIDS research and to ignore the ill-informed, mean-spirited ranting of Senator Helms. by CNB