AIDS protesters jeer Secretary Thompson
- July 10, 2002
- 2 comments
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson was yelled at and his speech was drowned out by whistle-blowing, yelling AIDS protesters. Their beef is that the US isn’t doing enough in the fight against AIDS.
The US spends about $2 billion a year on AIDS research in the US alone. They contribute 1/4 of the worldwide donations against AIDS. Here’s a breakdown of how much the US spends on AIDS patients vs. the 2 biggest killer diseases:
| Disease: | Deaths: | Cost per person: |
|---|---|---|
| Heart Disease | 700,000+ | $2,000 |
| Cancer | 500,000+ | $7,000 |
| AIDS | 40,000+ | $125,000 |
Explain to me how the US isn’t doing more than their share in the fight against AIDS? In my opinion, these protesters were offensive, rude, arrogant and should be kept from other conferences.
And what really irks me is that one of the two co-chairmen of the conference did NOTHING to stop the display, but instead limply said, “Well, it happens.”
I applaud Secretary Thompson for being the first Health and Human Services Secretary since 1992 to attend an AIDS conference. He knew it would be difficult, but I don’t think he figured it would get this outlandishly rude.
link: Amount of U.S. Spending on AIDS Decried (washingtonpost.com)
Zachary
Deady diseases are a terrible thing no matter what, including AIDS. One major difference about AIDS comes to mind. While people can make lifestyle changes in their excersize and diet to reduce the risk, diseases like cancer and heart disease are largely hereditary.
AIDS on the other hand, is a highly preventable disease. True, there are unfortunate accidents, like tainted blood supplies, etc. It isn’t like scientists and doctors are not doing anything to find a cure. They are people with egos too. You would be hard pressed to find someone involved in AIDS research that isn’t dreaming of someday becoming the next Jonas Salk.