Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1987. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; Friday September 25, 1987
Civil libertarians and civil rights groups have denounced the secret list kept by the Montgomery police department as being inaccurate and an invasion of privacy, and health officials said it also could scare people away from seeking tests for the AIDS virus.
"This was just a disaster we didn't need at this time," said Dr. Don Williamson, director of disease control for the Alabama Department of Public Health.
A new state law went into effect Wednesday requiring doctors and health labs to notify the department of the names of people who test positive for the HIV virus, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Williamson said publicity about the police list could only hurt the health department's attempt to identify AIDS sufferers. The notification law itself has been criticized as coercive and an invasion of privacy by gay rights groups.
The state health department and doctors are prohibited from divulging information about patients.
"Our hope is that over the next several months when it becomes obvious there will be no breach . . . is that the fears of the health department will subside and people will again come in for testing," Williamson said.
State Public Health Director Dr. Earl Fox and civil liberties groups are seeking a way to destroy the Montgomery list, which Mayor Emory Folmar contends is needed so police and firefighters will know when they might come in contact with someone carrying the virus.
Holley Midgley, of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, said: "Anyone who was thinking about going in for a test is not going to stick their neck out now . . . that this thing has become public."
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