Petrelis Files

The New York Times
September 18, 1985, Wednesday, Late City Final Edition
SECTION: Section B; Page 7, Column 6; National Desk

REAGAN DEFENDS FINANCING FOR AIDS

BYLINE: By PHILIP BOFFEY, Special to the New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Sept. 17

President Reagan, who has been accused of public indifference to the AIDS crisis by groups representing victims of the deadly disease, said last night that his Administration was already making a ''vital contribution'' to research on the disease within the limits imposed by ''budgetary restraints.''

Mr. Reagan was asked at his news conference if he could support ''a massive Government research program against AIDS like the program that President Nixon launched against cancer,'' in which Mr. Nixon called in 1971 for a ''total national commitment'' to ''conquering this dread disease.'' Mr. Reagan said that he had been supporting research into AIDS, acquired immune deficiency sydrome, for the last four years and that the effort was a ''top priority'' for the Administration.

The President also expressed sympathy for both sides in the controversy over whether children suffering from AIDS should be permitted to attend school with healthy children.

His remarks appeared to be the first time he has publicly addressed the issue of the lethal disease that has claimed thousands of victims, primarily among male homosexuals, intravenous drug addicts and hemophilliacs whose condition requires frequent blood transfusions. Although the Department of Health and Human Services has declared AIDS its ''number one priority,'' Mr. Reagan himself has been criticized by groups calling for more Government action on the disease.

No Cure or Vaccine for Disease

The disease is belived to be caused by a virus that destroys the body's immune system, leaving it vulnerable to attack by other infections that then kill the victim. The disease is almost uniformly fatal. Thus far some 13,000 cases have been reported in this country. There is, as yet, no cure and no vaccine to prevent the disease.

Mr. Reagan was told by one questioner that the ''best-known AIDS scientist in the country'' had said the time had come to embark on ''a minor moon shot program to attack this AIDS epidemic that has struck fear into the nation's health workers and even in school children.'' The scientist was later identified by The Associated Press as Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, who discovered the virus that is believed to cause AIDS and who reportedly made the remarks in an interview with The A.P. earlier this year.

Reagan Cites Spending Effort

But Mr. Reagan resisted the suggestion that more money was needed. He said that AIDS had been ''one of the top priorities with us'' and that the Administration had provided or appropriated some half a billion dollars for research on AIDS since he took office in 1981. He included in that figure the $126 million that the Administration is seeking for the next budget year. ''So this is a top priority with us,'' he said. ''Yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this, and the need to find an answer.''

When told that the top AIDS scientist had said the Administration's budgets were ''not nearly enough at this stage to go forward and really attack the problem,'' Mr. Reagan replied: ''I think with our bdugetary restraints and all it seems to me that $126 million in a single year for research has got to be something of a vital contribution.''

Albert R. Brashear, a White House spokesman, said that Mr. Reagan intended to suggest that current spending levels, which have been increasing steadily, were enough.

However, a House appropriations subcommittee recently voted to boost the Administration's proposed budget for AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health next year by $70 million, which would double the amount of research proposed at that agency by the Administration. Congress has increased the Administration's proposed spending levels for AIDS research in each of the last three budgets. Total health research spending by the Federal Government was estimated at $4.96 billion in the fiscal year 1985 and is to rise to $5.20 billion in the fiscal year 1986 which begins Oct. 1.

On the issue of schools, Mr. Reagan was asked, ''If you had younger children, would you send them to a school with a child who had AIDS?''

He said he was ''glad I'm not faced with that problem today.'' He said he could ''well understand'' the plight of parents worried about the safety of their children and had compassion for children suffering from AIDS who might be made outcasts.

Mr. Reagan said ''it is true that some medical sources'' say that AIDS cannot be transmitted in ways that involve a child in school. The known routes of transmission, according to health experts, are sexual intercourse and exchanges of contaminated blood through needles or transfusions. ''And yet medicine has not come forth unequivocally and said, this we know for a fact that it is safe,'' the President said. ''And until they do, I think we just have to do the best we can with this problem. I can understand both sides of it.''

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Los Angeles Times
September 19, 1985, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part 1; Page 18; Column 1; National Desk

HEALTH EXPERTS GLAD REAGAN CITED AIDS;
PLEASED BY ATTENTION, DISAPPOINTED HE DID NOT QUELL SCHOOL FEAR

By MARLENE CIMONS, Times Staff Writer
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

While expressing disappointment that President Reagan did not use his nationally televised news conference to urge -- as the federal Centers for Disease Control have done -- that parents allow their children to attend school with AIDS victims, researchers, doctors and parents of AIDS victims said Wednesday that they were gratified that "at least he is talking" about the disease.

Reagan, asked at his news conference Tuesday night whether he would send a child of his own to school with classmates who had AIDS, expressed sympathy for both sides in the furor. But he failed to endorse recommendations issued recently by the CDC saying that children with AIDS pose no risk and should be permitted to attend regular classes.

"The recommendations came about as a result of a panel of experts including a whole variety of people," said Dr. Ann Hardy, a CDC epidemiologist in the AIDS branch. "We stand by them. We feel they are good."

Missed 'Opportunity'

Dr. Brian Novick, clinical professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, who is treating about 90 children with AIDS, said that he was "glad someone asked him about AIDS" but that the President missed "an opportunity to make some very positive, direct statements about AIDS and children."

Novick said he fears now that parents will "quote the President and say, 'Gee, even the President doesn't come out and support the medical experts -- how can he expect us to send our children to school?' Given the current information and the circumstances, he could have been much more definite."

"He is actually commenting on it publicly -- that's a start," said Dr. Paul A. Volberding, an AIDS researcher and oncologist who directs the AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. "I had been concerned that there has been no comment at all from his office, given the seriousness of the epidemic."

'Normal Activities'

However, on the question of whether children with AIDS should be allowed to attend school, Volberding added: "I don't think the President's remarks reflect what most experts in the field feel about that issue. Most of us feel that kids with AIDS should be allowed to participate in normal activities. Perhaps his reaction means he hasn't learned enough about AIDS yet. The information is clearly there, and I hope he is becoming more educated."

Jeanne White, the mother of Ryan, a 13-year-old AIDS victim from Kokomo, Ind., who has been barred from his school, said she believes that Reagan did not forcefully back the health agency recommendations because he "just didn't want to hear from a bunch of angry parents."

Ryan White, a hemophiliac who contracted AIDS through the use of contaminated blood products, has been monitoring his classes via a telephone hookup in his home.

'People Are Afraid'

"He (President Reagan) knows the facts," White's mother said. "But he also knows people are afraid. He's just concerned about all the letters he might get from parents. It's easy to step away from the situation if you don't know anyone with AIDS."

She said she would like to say to the President: " 'Do you want to meet a great kid -- who has AIDS?' I bet he'd say, 'Yeah.' And I bet he wouldn't be afraid to shake his hand or anything."

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is an incurable, usually fatal disease caused by a virus that destroys the body's immune system, leaving it vulnerable to otherwise rare infections.

Infected Mothers Cited

In adults, the disease is transmitted through sexual contact by the exchange of bodily fluids, through sharing unsterilized hypodermic needles and through transfusions of contaminated blood or blood products. Those at highest risk include male homosexuals and bisexuals, intravenous drug users and their steady sexual partners. The majority of infected children acquired the disease from infected mothers during pregnancy or through transfusions.

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The Associated Press
September 19, 1985, Thursday, PM cycle

Studds Says Reagan Has Shown Little Concern Over AIDS

BYLINE: By DANIEL BEEGAN, Associated Press Writer

Even though he labels AIDS research a top administration priority, President Reagan has only spoken out once about the deadly disease, and then only when prompted by reporters, says Rep. Gerry E. Studds, the only acknowledged homosexual in Congress.

"... The president said last night it is one of the top priorities of the last four years," the Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview Wednesday. "Under those circumstances, it is more than a little difficult to imagine why he has never mentioned it once before in public."

"This is a major national public health crisis," Studds said. "There are medical authorities who think it is one of the very worst we have faced in a very long time."

At his news conference Tuesday night, Reagan, responding to reporters' questions, said more than $500 million had been spent to try to find ways of combatting AIDS, a fatal virus which attacks the body's ability to fight disease.

But Studds said Reagan's requests to Congress for fiscal years 1982 through 1986 were far less than that amount, and the money was appropriated only because Congress went beyond administration requests.

"The administration's request for the five fiscal years in question, '82, '83, '84, '85 and '86, adds up to $213.5 million," Studds said. "The way I read that, it's less than 'over half a billion' by a substantial amount."

Studds said the administration's original fiscal year 1986 request was for $85.6 million, less than the $97.4 million Congress actually appropriated last year for AIDs research.

After Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., pressured the administration, Studds said, that request was increased to $126 million.

Congress likely will approve more than that, Studds said. One subcommittee in the House has authorized a $196 million spending level, and if it is approved, Congress will have provided $389 million over those same five years, he noted.

"I think the country has a right to expect a great deal more than this from our president," he said.

The White House press office did not return telephone calls Wednesday seeking comment about Studds' remarks on AIDS spending.

Studds said he was concerned that what he feels is the administration's lack of response could be because acquired immune deficiency syndrome started out in the United States as a "gay disease."

AIDS most frequently strikes male homosexuals, recipients of contaminated blood transfusions and intravenous drug abusers.

As of Sept. 9, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta had tabulated 13,074 cases of AIDS, of whom 6,611 had died. No one has recovered.

Studds said he also was disappointed that Reagan didn't speak out more strongly when asked if he would send a young child of his own to a school with students who had AIDS.

Medical experts have said there is no evidence AIDS can be spread from casual contact, such as a child going to school with someone who has the disease, Studds said.

Studds made his sexual orientation public in 1983, when he was censured by the House for a relationship he had 10 years earlier with a House page.