116 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
116 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 1 Num. 98
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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AIDS: What the Government Isn't Telling You
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by Lorraine Day, M.D.
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(Part 4)
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In the last installment, the concept that the donor can be relied
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on to be careful not to donate blood when he knows he himself has
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been infected with the AIDS virus was introduced. Dr. Day delves
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further into this myth in a chapter called "The Myth of Self-
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Deferral". This concept of self-deferral may have influenced the
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fact that, although a test was available for detecting AIDS
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antibodies by 1985, testing of donors blood was not *required*
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until 1988. As included excerpts from an article in the
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*Philadelphia Inquirer* point out,
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The FDA did not require an AIDS test on donated blood until
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January 5, 1988, almost three years after the first test for
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detecting AIDS antibodies in blood came into use in March
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1985.
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Between 1987 and 1988, the number of recalls of suspect
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blood almost tripled.
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For at least a year, people who had tested positive for the
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deadly AIDS virus were allowed to walk the streets of
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Philadelphia without knowing it. They had sold their blood
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plasma to the Community Bank and Plasma Center... The Center
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tested the blood for the AIDS virus and until 1987 notified
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in writing anyone who tested positive, according to a
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company executive. But that year, the Center stopped mailing
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these notifications after a city-funded AIDS group objected
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to the way it was being done.
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There is no federal regulation requiring blood banks to
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notify donors who test positive for AIDS. The Food and Drug
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Administration, the federal agency responsible for the
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safety of the American blood supply, recommends notifying
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donors but leaves the decision up to the blood banks and
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plasma centers.
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From March 1988 to March 1989, blood banks and commercial
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plasma centers had to recall nearly 100,000 blood components
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and medicines made from blood that had been erroneously
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released, FDA records show.
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In this marketplace, blood, a vital resource, gets less
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government protection than grapes or poultry or pretzels.
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Dog kennels in Pennsylvania are inspected more frequently
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than blood banks. {1}.
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"Self-deferral", in practice, means that potential donors are
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asked a barrage of sometimes obtuse questions (e.g. "Have you
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engaged in prostitution since 1977 or had sex within the last 12
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months with someone who has *even once*?") to screen out those
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who may be already infected with HIV. Dr. Day gives other reasons
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why the screening of potential donors does not inspire
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confidence:
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--* Work places may put pressure on people to donate blood who
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should not have to do so.
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--* Some corporations offer perks for donating blood.
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--* The self-deferral form is hard to read.
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--* Previously mentioned, "blood terrorism"; i.e., willingly
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infecting the blood supply.
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Dr. Day explores the money factor behind the reluctance to make
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improvements in the current setup. "There are vested interests"
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and "there is money to be made".
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Hang on. It gets worse. What about bone banks, semen banks, and
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tissue and organ transplant banks? The first CDC guidelines for
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bone banks weren't even written until August 1988. Why the delay?
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"Every doctor in the world knows that the substance that
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nourishes a bone is blood. Did it not dawn on you," asked Dr.
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Day, "that if blood transmitted HIV, then bone, semen, connective
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tissue, tendons and all organs should also transmit HIV?"
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"Well," replied the "experts", "we've never seen it happen."
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"The consensus in that CDC room was sheer textbook AIDSpeak: *to
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infer transmission without evidence would have been unwarranted
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and highly suspect speculation unworthy of this august
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fellowship*." In other words, since it has not yet been proven,
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they aren't going to worry about it.
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--------------------------<< Notes >>----------------------------
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{1} Quotes from the *Philadelphia Inquirer*, Sept. 24-28, Five-
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part series on Blood Banks, Gilbert M. Gaul, Reporter.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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