Hey, you, give us more!

Call for action, and access, on AIDS

A sense that the worst plague in human history remains out of control dominated talk on Sunday as 15,000 scientists, health workers and activists gathered here for the opening of the world’s biggest AIDS conference.

The article goes on to, of course, say that the wealthy countries have to give more. More money, more free drugs, more of everything. There's even an idiot statement that AIDS could create "potential havens for terrorists."

Give more. Give more. Give more. Meanwhile, no one wants to treat this like a plague. It's a political football.

And as for giving more, as for making drugs more accessble, was it just yesterday that Glaxo -- and others -- was coerced into granting licenses to a South African producer of generics? No, that was September (!) 2001, and that was six months after concessions had already been made.

Give more, give more, damnit you rich boy, give more! Drugs grow on trees, see, and all the billions spent in research is irrelevant. You, you pharmaceutical companies, you have no right to recoup any of your costs. Society demands your sacrifice. And if you go out of business, oh so sorry, it was all worth it.

Phase 1 for controlling this plague means treating it as a plague! Sorry, but that means quarantine, so that those infected can't infect anyone else. But, no, can't do that. That might interfere with a lifestyle that puts you at risk. Can't have that. That's too much like imposing your morality on someone, and that's much worse that lying bed while your body betrays you and slowly kills you.