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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995                   TAG: 9507060045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

HELMS FIGHTS TO CUT AIDS FUNDS

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who has vigorously fought homosexual rights, wants to reduce the amount of federal money spent on people with AIDS because, he says, it is their ``deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct'' that is responsible for their disease.

Moreover, he argues, AIDS is only the ninth-leading cause of death in America but accounts for more federal financing than diseases that kill more people - an assertion not supported by Public Health Service figures.

When Helms compared spending on health issues, he counted only those sums spent for research, prevention and housing. But Public Health Service figures show that when all federal money, including Medicaid and Medicare, is taken into account, total annual federal outlays on heart disease ($36.3 billion) and cancer ($16.9 billion) dwarf those on AIDS ($6 billion). AIDS is the leading cause of death among men and women from 25 to 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

``We've got to have some common sense about a disease transmitted by people deliberately engaging in unnatural acts,'' Helms said.

The senator's determination to reduce AIDS spending comes as Congress considers reauthorizing the Ryan White Care Act of 1990, the federal program for the care and treatment of people with AIDS. The law, named for an Indiana teen-ager who died after contracting AIDS through a tainted blood product, expires at the end of September. Despite broad bipartisan support, the measure appears stalled.

by CNB