Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - Tuesday, 1 October 1996.
One AIDS counselor said Haitian patients from at least four treatment centers have stopped seeing doctors because of the show, which has been airing on Miami's WLQY-AM for three years.
"(The show's) spreading a lot of confusion," said Saul Gelin, a counselor at Center One, an AIDS treatment center in Fort Lauderdale. "This is keeping people from seeking treatment."
The false message about AIDS has been spread by Henri-Claude Saint-Fleur, a North Miami Beach psychologist, Francelot Moise of Lauderdale Lakes, a Haitian physician not licensed to practice in Florida, and talk show host Claude Aubry.
The three say people with AIDS should refuse drugs and stop using condoms because the disease is a fabrication of U.S. pharmaceutical companies seeking to increase business and to curtail Haitian population growth.
"We are not spreading lies. What we are saying are facts," said Saint-Fleur, who started the radio program. "I'm happy to tell people the truth. I know lots of people who stopped taking their AIDS medication and are living well."
He said people who died from AIDS really died from other illnesses, he said.
Scientists say the trio are spreading nonsense.
"The things they say are so unscientific. But they have medical credentials, so people believe them," said Georges Metellus, head of AIDS surveillance for the public health unit in Dade County. "It makes our job very, very difficult."
Many of South Florida's 155,000 Haitians keep the station on throughout the day and counselors and doctors are worried about the commentators winning converts.
"Everyone has free speech, but this has gone too far," said psychiatrist Laurinus Pierre, head of Miami's Center for Haitian Studies, which sees hundreds of AIDS patients. "People just refuse to take their medication. This is exactly what we don't need."
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