THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605170010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Recently WTKR-TV news ran a story reporting on a scientific study performed on primates revealing that animals that received the hormone progesterone were at increased risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS. Before the news program, clips were run leading viewers to believe that the use of birth-control pills will put them at a higher risk of contracting AIDS. The editorial slant employed by the news team was misleading to the layperson.
During the report, two widely used forms of birth control, Depo-Provera and Norplant, were singled out and listed on the screen as using progesterone. The viewer was left with the impression that only these two forms of birth control modalities employ progesterone. This is a particularly dangerous impression to cast since may teenagers and women from socioeconomically disadvantaged situations rely on these very methods of birth control. In actuality, all methods of hormonal regulation to achieve birth control use progesterone as the active hormone that prevents pregnancy.
Transmission of the virus that causes AIDS occurs from the exposure of one person to the blood or body fluids of an infected person. Protection is provided only by condoms, abstinence and mutually monogamous relationships with unaffected people.
We are experiencing a time of increasing numbers of teenage pregnancies as well as patients infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Many scientific studies are published each week. It is crucial that those studies that are reported to the layperson be conveyed in the proper context accompanied by the information with regard to education to avoid public alarm.
PAUL E. PHRAMPUS
Norfolk, May 11, 1996 by CNB