Treatment Action Campaign News, 06 June 2000. * Reminder: Global March for Treatment Access starts at 15:00 outside Durban City Hall on 9 July, 2000. Please get your NGO to endorse the global march. Email me, ngeffen@cs.uct.ac.za to endorse the march. To view the list of endorsers, see http://www.durban2000march.org/endorsements.html. * Reminder: MSF-TAC Conference starts at 9:00 and ends at 13:30 in Durban City Hall on 9 July 2000. * Burroughs Wellcome (i.e. Glaxo Wellcome) lies about their role in the development of AZT. (see letter in main body of email) * NAPWA AGM from 9 to 11 June in Durban Coastlands Hotel. All welcome. (more detail in main body of email) * newspaper articles copied for fair use. (Thanks to Anna Weekes for supplying these.) * 2 on the Minister of Health's press conference last week * 1 on the ANC supporting transparency on HIV/AIDS * 1 on President Mbeki's view on HIV causing AIDS (see main body of email) * I have an interesting article from the New England Journal of Medicine discussing some of the negative aspects of the pharmaceutical industry's role in new drug research. For copyright purposes, I'd rather not distribute it to this list, but if you wish to see it, please email me and I'll send it to you individually. * Please note that ACTUP San Francisco are NOT part of the original and legitimate ACT-UP group with which TAC works closely. ACTUP San Francisco are AIDS dissidents who, among other strange and dangerous beliefs, advocate that safe-sex programs are useless because transmission of HIV does not cause AIDS. I have copied an article by ACT-UP Philadelphia explaining this. * One reader noted that our joint press release with the Durban march organisers, "March will not be another Seattle" could be offensive to the vast majority of peaceful protestors at Seattle. No offense was meant. Indeed, Human Rights Watch has blamed the Seattle Police for using excessive force during the Seattle Protest. However, we believe there is no reason to expect that the marchers or the South African Police will behave disruptively. We are ensuring that the march will take place peacefully with the full co-operation of all the appropriate Durban City Center authorities. We are confident that the march will be peaceful and successful. Let us lay this matter to rest. Email: mailto:all@tac.org.za to send news for the whole list Email: mailto:info@tac.org.za for information on TAC Website: www.tac.org.za (improving all the time) Articles follow: ---------------------- * Burroughs Wellcome (i.e. Glaxo Wellcome) lies about their role in the development of AZT. New York Times, September 28, 1989 Credit Government Scientists With Developing Anti-AIDS Drug To the Editor: The Sept. 16 letter from T.E. Haigler Jr., president of the Burroughs Wellcome Company, was astonishing in both substance and tone. Mr. Haigler asserts that azidothymidine, or AZT, was essentially discovered and developed entirely by Burroughs Wellcome with no substantive role from Government scientists and Government-supported research. This will be a surprise to the many men and women who have devoted their lives to working for the viral cancer program and developmental therapeutics program of the National Institutes of Health over the last 25 years. We (associated with the National Cancer Institute and Duke University) make this statement as co-authors of the first publications describing AZT as a drug for treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Mitsuya, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1985, and Yarchoan, et al., The Lancet, 1986). There are few drugs now approved in this country that owe more to Government-sponsored research. In the interest of brevity, perhaps this point can be summarized most efficiently by stating what Mr. Haigler's company did not do. - The company did not perform the first synthesis of AZT. This was done by Dr. Jerome Horowitz at the Michigan Cancer Foundation in 1964, using a Government grant. - The company did not conceive or provide the first demonstration of an effect against animal retroviruses. This was done by Wolfram Ostertag at the Max Planck Institute in 1974, using a mouse retrovirus in a test tube. Mr. Haigler's implication that his staff discovered" the antiretroviral potential of AZT in 1984 is noteworthy. What he did not say was that his staff repeated the Ostertag mouse experiments. You cannot discover" something published by someone else 10 years earlier. - The company specifically did not develop or provide the first application of the technology for determining whether a drug like AZT can suppress live AIDS virus in human cells, nor did it develop the technology to determine at what concentration such an effect might be achieved in humans. Moreover, it was not first to administer AZT to a human being with AIDS, nor did it perform the first clinical pharmacology studies in patients. It also did not perform the immunological and virological studies necessary to infer that the drug might work, and was therefore worth pursuing in further studies. All of these were accomplished by the staff of the National Cancer Institute working with staff at Duke University. These scientists did not work for the Burroughs Wellcome Company. They were doing investigator-initiated research, which required resources and reprogramming from other important projects, in response to a public health emergency. Indeed, one of the key obstacles to the development of AZT was that Burroughs Wellcome did not work with live AIDS virus nor wish to receive samples from AIDS patients. In a number of specific ways, Government scientists made it possible to take a drug in the public domain with no medical use and make it a practical reality as a new therapy for AIDS. It is unlikely that any drug company could have found a better partner than the Government in developing a new product. We believe that the development of this drug in a record two years, start to finish, would have been impossible without the substantive commitment of Government scientists and Government technology. It does not serve anyone's interests to nullify the importance of Government-sponsored research in solving problems of American public health. HIROAKI MITSUYA, M.D. KENT WEINHOLD ROBERT YARCHOAN, M.D. DANI BOLOGNESI SAMUEL BRODER, M.D. Bethesda, Md., Sept. 20, 1989 ---------------------- * NAPWA AGM from 9 to 11 June in Durban Coastlands Hotel. All welcome. Regarding the above NAPWA cordially invites you to attend its Special National Annual General Meeting that will be held on the 9th to 11th June 2000 in Durban Coastlands Hotel. The purpose of this meeting is to draft policy guidelines for the organization by reviewing the existing policies. This meeting will also develop guidelines for other policies that we feel are necessary from NAPWA. The Special Annual AGM is to offer a clear vision, strategic plan and various effective programmes for the coming years for NAPWA. We therefore believe that the presence and contribution of your organization can benefit NAPWA in this regard. In addition Provinces are attending to their Provincial meetings in the week prior (eg. Gauteng Provincial meeting, June 3rd 2000, 9:00am - 3:00pm, 19 Essellen Street Hilbrow). Please do not hesitate in offering prior input and/or in requesting further information. We look forward to seeing you there. yours in solidarity and health, Nkululeko Nxesi National Director National Office: Nkululeko Nxesi: 012-420-4410 / 083-478-9462 Eastern Cape: Thanduxolo Doro: 041-487-3397 Free State: Mahadi Shongwe: 051-405-8817 Gauteng: Mathilda Sibisi: 011-982-5451 Kwazulu-Natal: Lucky Barnabas: 031-300-3914 / 3113 Mpumalanga: Portia Mlangeni: 013-741-3031 ext 114 Western Cape: Thobeka Majola: 021-637-2190 North-West: Mpho Sebanyoni: 082-200-4163 ------------------ Sunday Independent 4/6/00 There is no last word on Aids - minister By Maureen Isaacson At an Aids debate at the Parktonian hotel in Johannesburg, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, had a cold, for which she apologised. However, she made no exceptions for questions of which she did not approve. When writer Hein Marais asked her whether she had any doubt that HIV led to Aids, she answered only after she had provided information about her personal journey into the world of HIV and Aids. "I worked in Tanzania and I saw cases of HIV and Aids in the early 1980s and have been continually attending workshops and courses on HIV and Aids since then." Then, quite unsolicited, she asked rhetorically: "What has your president said? I have sat in cabinet all day discussing HIV and Aids and the president has never said that HIV does not cause Aids." Then the minister answered the question with another: "What is it we are not doing right in South Africa? I have just come from Geneva and many African leaders are asking that question." Finally, she got down to it: "I have never doubted that HIV causes Aids - that does not mean that HIV does cause Aids and that does not mean that I do not read alternative literature. "If issues were clear and resolved, we would not be holding a conference in Durban next month. I do not think that the government will steer away from these issues. We will continue to seek different responses to this epidemic." Tshabalala-Msimang, Professor Jerry Coovadia, the head of Natal university's paediatrics department, and Dr Anthony Kinghorn, a senior manager at the consultancy company ATB Associates, who wrote the resource book that accompanies the Love Life campaign, were asked by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, which hosted the debate, why South Africa is struggling to get to grips with the Aids crisis. Tshabalala-Msimang objected to the question and said: "There is no doubt in my mind that the government has a responsibility to the HIV and Aids epidemic but it is not solely a government responsibility. "The government can make and change laws but it cannot change people's minds and hearts. We must ask ourselves as individuals and groups what we can do to stem the tide of the HIV-Aids epidemic." When asked by someone in the audience why the dissident scientists had been invited to South Africa, she said: "Precisely because we wanted to interact with them on these interesting issues. By saying the Eliza test was not sensitive enough we are saying, be careful. You may be positive even though you test negative." Although the debate took the form of speeches read and later a question-and-answer session, it was clear that Coovadia and Tshabalala-Msimang were sparring. Kinghorn offered a depressing prediction of the socio-economic implications of the epidemic. Coovadia laid the blame at the door of the government and business. "There is no question in the minds of scientists that the government contributes to a climate that raises the possibility that the virus does not cause Aids and that the anti-retrovirals are toxic," said Coovadia. "That would be okay if the disease wasn't complex and people did not need reassurance - communities are wallowing in violence against society and largely against women. "If you say something causes an iota of doubt you create problems. When the man on television says the Eliza test is not reliable the man in the street says, why use a condom? Doctors can't offer anti-retrovirals and government says the test is not reliable. "You cannot politicise science," he said. "When you politicise science and say that HIV does not cause Aids you are contradicting 20 years of work, asking people to debate it. "You cannot achieve science by consensus. You cannot bring two groups together and ask them to debate it. It does not work that way. You cannot change the structures of how science works." Later Tshabalala-Msimang said: "Nobody said the scientists invited to this country wanted to reach consensus. It does not mean because the other group was not on the platform for 20 years that they have stopped researching. It was important for South Africa to invite these scientists." When asked about her reluctance to accept the 80 percent discount for Aids drugs offered by pharmaceutical companies, Tshabalala-Msimang said: "They do not tell how much it costs them to produce the anti-retrovirals, including AZT. They have reduced R70 000 per annum to between R17 000 and R20 000. "I have a budget of R2-billion so I would have to stop doing everything else. We were told in Geneva, 'hamba kahle', do not rush - bearing in mind we do not know the results of these anti-retrovirals. "In the US, maybe 50 percent take anti-retrovirals and 35 percent drop off because of the side effects and cannot tolerate AZT. We are not saying we are not exploring the possibilities of anti-retrovirals." Coovadia said: "This is a difficult virus and we have not had anything like it since the black plague. The virus is complex and its structure has been isolated to a degree that no virus has undergone before. Tshabalala-Msimang said people could not be expected to abstain from sex: "It is too exciting." The single point of consent was the necessity for prevention. -------------------------- Health minister ducks AIDS question - and thereby answers it Sunday Morning Assessment BY AVOIDING the question why the government can't get to grips with AIDS, SA's Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, inadvertently answered it this week. Tshabalala-Msimang was invited to a debate hosted by the Centre for Development and Enterprise which posed the question: "Why is the government struggling to make an impact on the AIDS crisis?" But instead of tackling it, she deftly rephrased the problem and asked the audience: "Why is South African society struggling to make an impact?" While her question is an important one, this change in emphasis was a tactical manoeuvre to shift responsibility rather than an attempt to find real answers. Instead of seizing the opportunity to acknowledge past blunders and inspire confidence in the government's present strategies, TshabalalaMsimang chastised the audience for believing that the government has a central role in tackling the AIDS crisis. She shifted the focus from the government to individual responsibility - thereby inadvertently questioning the government's ability to lead. She said : "As government we cannot outlaw sexual contact," and added, with a giggle, "It is too exciting to do so." She said: "I am not saying this to minimise government responsibility but there is no way government can make an impact on AIDS unless every individual takes responsibility for their sexual behaviour." Throughout the evening, she frequently returned to the same slogan: "Remember, every action counts." While on the most simplistic level this approach seems to make perfect sense, it fails to take into account that the low status of women in South African society, violence, poverty and illiteracy all hamper the negotiation of safe sex between partners. As Tshabalala-Msimang acknowledged later - contradicting her earlier approach - AIDS is not just about sex. It is about attitudes and behaviour and a slew of socioeconomic and cultural forces. The government may have no role to play in the bedroom, but that doesn't mean it can relinquish its responsibility to lead, to govern and to protect. That comes with the job. So far the government has struggled to make an impact on the AIDS epidemic because of an unwillingness to tackle the issue head on. It has not listened to the advice of experts, nor acknowledged failures and mistakes in a way that would prevent their repetition. It should admit that present strategy has helped undermine confidence in efforts to preach prevention. On Tuesday night, the minister preached that "every action counts". Perhaps she should heed her own advice. Respected academic vs the government on the key issues around the epidemic THESE are key points in the debate between the Minister of Health, Dr Manto TshabalalaMsimang, and the University of Natal's Professor Jerry Coovadia, the convenor of the International AIDS Conference, due to be held in Durban in July. ON RESPONSIBILITY: Tshabalala-Msimang: "We can make laws, we can attempt to change people's behaviour but we cannot change what's in people's minds and their hearts. "That's the place where government responsibility ends and individual responsibility begins." Coovadia: "There have been problems and mistakes that have affected government credibility. Sarafina 2 , Virodene, notification and the composition of the present Presidential AIDS panel have all contributed to today's problems with controlling the disease through prevention. "Government is culpable." ON THE PRESIDENT CONSULTING DISSIDENTS: Tshabalala-Msimang: "The President never said HIV doesn't cause AIDS. The President said we have developed strategies and put in a lot of resources and we are not seeing returns. What is it we are not doing right?" Coovadia: "Government has contributed to the present climate of confusion around HIV/AIDS by raising the possibility that HIV does not cause AIDS and that certain antiretrovirals are toxic and poisonous. When government says something that even raises an iota of doubt, the person in the street will ask: 'Why the hell should I wear a condom? Why should I stick to one sex partner?' " ON THE ADVISORY PANEL: Tshabalala-Msimang: "It had never been an idea not to put South Africans on the panel. But it was not going to be dominated by our scientists." Coovadia: "[President Thabo Mbeki] had an alternative. He could have picked up the phone and said: 'Hello, William [Makgoba, president of the Medical Research Council], this is what some scientists in California are saying. Is it true or not?' " http://www.suntimes.co.za/2000/06/04/news/news09.htm _______________________________ City Press 4/6/00 Debate on Aids welcome SO MUCH has been said in recent weeks about whether President Thabo Mbeki supports the theory advanced that HIV does not cause Aids. The Office of the President has emphatically denied that he has ever suggested this, but, notwithstanding, many medical scientists are far from convinced. Criticism that Mbeki has no medical training and, therefore, cannot make any pronounce ments on issues such as this one are as unfair as they are unhelpful in dealing with this scourge, which is annihilating Africa. Mbeki has never pretended to be a medical scientist. But, as president, he is eminently placed to create a climate in which scientists from different backgrounds can come together in the fight against HIV/Aids. We believe this is what informed his decision to listen to so-called dissidents as well as mainstream medical scientists. This does not imply endorsing any particular viewpoint. But what we find distressing is that a number of positive developments of Mbeki's intervention seem to have been lost to the general public. By bringing together scientists with different views, Mbeki has pooled together people who can collectively contribute towards finding a cure. The fact that representatives of opposing viewpoints managed to meet is in itself important. It gives hope that something concrete is being done to confront this killer disease. At the Pretoria meeting recently, Professor William Makgoba described the discussions as reasonable, and he believes participants will all realise the challenges put on them by Mbeki. Makgoba said they were concentrating on commonalities rather than differences. A two-day conference such as this one will not, on its own, find a cure for HIV/Aids. But it can hopefully facilitate a better understanding of how to prevent and eventually cure HIV/Aids. This is after all what is needed by the millions of our people afflicted with this scourge. To those of our people dying in ever-increasing numbers from it, any debate that can lead to a solution is most welcome. http://livenews.24.com/English/CityPress/Leaders/ENG_379781_1198314_SEO.asp --------------------- Independent News/SAPA 6/6/00 ANC supports 'transparency on HIV/Aids' June 05 2000 at 06:45PM The ANC would encourage politicians to make their HIV/Aids status public but would respect the right of individuals to privacy if they chose to remain silent, national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Monday. Ngonyama was responding to a question raised by a reporter at the launch in Johannesburg of the African National Congress' new "Together we Can" Aids campaign, which is aimed at destigmatising the disease. Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was asked whether Member of Parliament and former deputy environmental affairs minister Peter Mokaba was dying of Aids. "I don't know where that report comes from," the minister replied. Her comments were supported by ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe who described the suggestion as "malicious". He said Mokaba had until last weekend been involved in party activities. "There is nothing to suggest he (Mokaba) is dying of Aids," Motlanthe said. Mokaba was not available for comment. A month ago he said he had been sick for several months but was feeling better after receiving treatment. "I am far from dying even though I am sick," he said, declining to disclose the nature of his illness. Mokaba has been off work since last year and returned to parliament for the opening week in March, but has since been excused from his parliamentary duties. Aids activists have called for political leaders to declare whether or not they were HIV-positive, arguing it would encourage transparency and help to demystify the disease. There was speculation in the media that Gauteng Inkatha Freedom Party leader Themba Khoza, who died last Sunday, had Aids. Pan Africanist Congress parliamentarian Patricia de Lille recently challenged members of government to reveal their HIV status. - Sapa -------------------- ACT UP Memorandum June 5, 2000 To: United States Congress members Re: Ryan White CARE Act Re-authorization, "ACT UP San Francisco" and the AIDS crisis Dear Congressperson: We are writing on behalf of ACT UP New York and ACT UP Philadelphia in response to the recent correspondence you received from the group calling itself "ACT UP San Francisco." Attached you will find a press release our organization sent out yesterday, along with a statement about who we are. ACT UP Philadelphia and ACT UP New York are not in any way affiliated with the group calling itself "ACT UP San Francisco" or any of its members. We believe that HIV plays a role in causing the syndrome known as AIDS and, unfortunately, we spend every single day of our lives surrounded by the cold, hard fact that AIDS is still a crisis. Please feel free to contact us about the information contained in this packet. Also, let this serve as a reminder that the AIDS crisis is a global crisis. Support access to lifesaving medications. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Julie Davids Paul Davis Asia Russell Katie Krauss (On Behalf of ACT UP Philadelphia ) Jennifer Flynn Bob Lederer Emmaia Gelman SharonAnn Lynch Mark Milano (On Behalf of ACT UP New York) Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Jennifer Flynn (212) 618-7411 or (908) 352-1132 Paul Davis (215) 731-1844 if you reach voice mail, please leave a message in box 9. ACT UP Philadelphia and New York Denounce Group Calling Itself "ACT UP San Francisco" ACT UP supports full funding for AIDS care, prevention, research and treatment, in the US and worldwide, including full funding for the Ryan White CARE Act. ACT UP chapters across the globe were founded as grassroots, non-violent, all volunteer AIDS activist groups. ACT UP New York, ACT UP Philadelphia, ACT UP Boston, ACT UP Golden Gate (recently renamed "Survive AIDS"), ACT UP Los Angeles, ACT UP Washington and ACT UP Paris all recognize the overwhelming evidence that HIV causes the syndrome known as AIDS. Since 1987, our organizations have effected wide-ranging advances in research and the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Each of these chapters has no affiliation with the group of individuals using the name ACT UP San Francisco. Rather than providing real solutions to the very real AIDS crisis, "ACT UP San Francisco" is using the ACT UP name to piggyback on years of diligent advocacy of legitimate ACT UP chapters. ACT UP Advises: That all members of Congress reject the positions of "ACT UP San Francisco," a group most noted for putting people with AIDS in physical danger -- specifically, by strenuously and publicly advocating the following scientifically untenable positions: ACT UP San Francisco belives that HIV testing is meaningless and should be stopped -- which would leave many people unaware of their infections and at serious risk for advancing illness; ACT UP San Francisco belives that "safer sex" and "clean needle" campaigns are useless, because the disease is not caused by a virus and therefore is not infectious -- which directly counters the well-researched, diligent and successful work of the public health community that has reduced disease levels using these demonstrated prevention tools; ACT UP San Francisco belives that all anti-HIV medications and preventive drugs against infections are not only worthless, but dangerous and can themselves cause AIDS -- despite evidence that, although these drugs certainly have side effects, in many cases the medications have dramatically extended life. Now the policy-related actions of "ACT UP San Francisco" -- specifically, attempting to cut off funds for life-extending direct services for people living with HIV and AIDS -- are jeopardizing the lives and health of people with HIV. REAL ACT UP chapters demand: o Full funding and expansion of the Ryan White Care Act and other federally funded services; o Full funding of CDC and other prevention programs, based on epidemiology derived from anonymous unique identifiers, not names. Non-named based systems have proven more effective than disease tracking by name; o AIDS medicine for all poor nations, including an expansion of the President's recent executive order that blocks enforcement actions when medication patent protection exceeds the requirements of the already restrictive WTO agreements on intellectual property. The executive order must be expanded to all developing and least-developed nations, rather than being limited to sub-Saharan African nations; o An immediate repeal of Senator Jesse Helm's federal funding ban on syringe exchange. Needle exchange is firmly proven as the most effective way of dramatically reducing new infections in heavily impacted areasÑwithout increasing illegal drug use; o Expanded funding for Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) until every person with HIV has safe, affordable housing; and o Massive increases in contributions to AIDS treatment and prevention efforts in poor countries ACT UP Urges Congress to: o Oppose any calls to force pregnant women -- or anyone else -- to undergo HIV testing. Public health research indicates that forced testing would most likely deter pregnant women from prenatal care, increasing rather than decreasing the risk of HIV transmission from woman to fetus. o Implement the Bayh-Dole laws, utilizing the rights retained on pharmaceutical products where substantial federal funding was involved. These drugs should be made available at-or-below manufacturing cost to poor countries, and at fair prices in the United States; o Prioritize microbicide research. Woman-controlled HIV prevention methods are long overdue, and could have dramatic public health benefits, domestically and abroad. --030-- Statement of ACT UP Philadelphia regarding "ACT UP San Francisco" March 2000 ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) Philadelphia was founded in 1988 and remains a grassroots, non-violent, all-volunteer AIDS activist group based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ACT UP Philadelphia does not accept funding from the pharmaceutical industry or the government. ACT UP Philadelphia, as well as ACT UP Boston, Golden Gate, New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and Washington, are not affiliated with the group calling itself ACT UP San Francisco. As active members of the Health GAP (Global Access Project) Coalition, ACT UP Philadelphia has worked to challenge US government trade policies that have blocked access to essential medication in countries confronted with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. ACT UP Philadelphia recognizes the overwhelming evidence that HIV causes the syndrome known as AIDS. We recognize that certain medications, including those that prevent and treat opportunistic infections, have been life-extending for millions of people living with HIV. ACT UP Philadelphia recognizes the side effects and toxicities of current anti-HIV therapies, and call on industry and governments to conduct targeted research to fully understand these effects and to develop safer treatments that will be effective and tolerated for many years. Further, ACT UP Philadelphia recognizes that these treatments are not a cure. In addition to calling for continuing research toward a cure for those infected with HIV, we call for increased, ethical research on microbicides to develop an effective and safe HIV prevention method for women and men worldwide. We support increased, ethical research on a vaccine or vaccines that will be effective against all types of HIV. ACT UP Philadelphia condemns pharmaceutical research, marketing, and pricing standards that hold profits above all other factors and limit access to, and knowledge of, the most effective use of anti-HIV therapies. ACT UP Philadelphia calls for full access to essential medications for all preventable or treatable health conditions worldwide. ###### Julie Davids ###### ###### ACT UP Philadelphia ###### ###### jdavids@critpath.org ###### ************* ************ ************* ************* ************* Lives must become more valuable than drug company profits. ************* ************* ************* *************