
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 30, 1990                   TAG: 9004300242
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CONFERENCES

TWO INTERNATIONAL conferences involving AIDS victims scheduled this summer are generating intense interest, but not the kind their organizers would like. Both meetings are scheduled in the United States, which has a law that prohibits visits by carriers of the AIDS virus. The AIDS victims believe they're being discriminated against, and they are correct.

More than 85 nations are threatening to boycott the Sixth International Conference on AIDS, which is scheduled in June in San Francisco. Also planned are protests of the World Hemophilia Congress, which is to be held in Washington in August.

Full attendance at the AIDS conference is especially vital. Scientists worldwide are working on ways to improve medical treatment. And, of course, they're looking for a cure. The opportunity for them to share research results at the conference would make advances more likely.

And it's in the United States' best interest to encourage participation at the conference. This nation has the largest number of AIDS victims in the world: An estimated 1 million Americans either have the disease or have been infected with the virus.

The Bush administration has tried to patch things up by authorizing immigration officials to issue 10-day visas to anyone attending the conferences. But many of the AIDS victims consider the action demeaning.

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., is responsible for the ban on visits by foreign AIDS victims. In 1987, he persuaded Congress to pass a law adding the AIDS virus to a list of "dangerous contagious diseases" that are grounds for exclusion from the United States.

The current list contains five other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as leprosy and tuberculosis. The AIDS virus, however, is the only one on the list by action of Congress. The other diseases are placed in the "dangerous" category at the discretion of the secretary of health and human services.

AIDS ought to receive the same treatment. If foreign nationals are kept out of this country, the reason ought to be protection of the public, not politics. Neither the Public Health Service nor the Centers for Disease Control believes AIDS carriers pose a health threat that should require their exclusion from the conferences.

A bill in Congress would leave the decision about whether AIDS belongs on the danger list to HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan. AIDS victims believe the Bush administration has added insult to injury by not saying whether it will support the bill.

AIDS is deadly, but is not spread through casual contact. America is not at risk from visits by foreigners with AIDS. The Helms law was inspired by fear, and should be taken off the books.

by CNB