The Bay Area Reporter - August 3, 2000
Jeff Getty, Survive AIDS Writers Pool

The action took place because activists are demanding that presumed GOP nominee George W. Bush take a stand against high drug prices that result in the deaths of millions of people with HIV in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Activist Julie Davids said that Bush should publicly support the production of low-cost, generic AIDS drugs in developing nations.

The banner covered the entire billboard, next to the Schuykill River and local Highway 676, and caused a delay in rush hour traffic as motorists gawked. The banner read: BUSH AND DRUG COMPANY GREED KILLS - GENERIC AIDS DRUGS FOR AFRICA NOW! It was placed over an existing billboard ad at 6:57a.m. Monday morning, at the start of the GOP convention.

ACT UP/Philadelphia is widely credited with forcing significant change in U.S. trade policy after the group targeted the Clinton administration with a series of zaps and major demonstrations. Those actions included numerous disruptions of the first several months of Vice President Al Gore's campaign appearances. "We thought it was time to target Bush as well," said Davids. Davids pointed out that several key Bush backers hold a significant portion of Third World debt and have been pressuring poor countries to meet payments at the expense of healthcare and AIDS spending. "Bush's supporters are the slumlords of Third World debt," said Davids.

After several months of announcements from President Clinton, Gore, and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, Clinton issued an executive order this spring. The order halted the U.S. government's routine practice of levying sanctions against sub-Saharan nations that pursue World Trade Organization options to manufacture generic versions of expensive patented medicines, as well as shopping around the globe to import drugs at the best world price.

Given the Bush campaign's ties with major drug companies, activists fear that if he's elected, a drug industry-backed Bush administration will reverse Clinton's executive order. "With 23 million African lives at stake, AIDS drugs for Africa must become a campaign issue for Bush as well as Gore," stated ACT UP/Philly's Paul Davis.

Another Philly activist who has been following the Bush campaign is Katie Krauss. "Pharmaceutical companies have come under increasing fire for high prices globally. Even though African nations account for only [a small percentage] of the global pharmaceutical market, drug companies have pulled out their fat wallets to stop self-sufficient manufacture of generic drugs," Krauss said.

Krauss thinks the drug industry does not want citizens of richer countries to learn the fact that pills cost just pennies to manufacture while greedy profits costs lives. "The love affair between Bush and the drug companies is heartbreaking for people with HIV here and in Africa," she added.

According to recently published reports, Bush is looking to appoint Deborah Steelman, his top healthcare advisor, to the powerful position of secretary of health. Steelman is a leading insurance and drug company lobbyist. Her firm, Steelman Enterprises, received $3 million in one year from insurance firms and drug companies and has contributed substantially to the Bush campaign.

In March, a Washington D.C. consumer group, Public Citizen, cried fowl saying Steelman had a conflict of interest as being both a member of the National Medicare Commission and running a drug company lobbyist firm.

Krauss said that she finds Steelman to be particularly alarming. "Basically what we have here is a situation where the drug companies will gain significant control over government healthcare spending if Steelman were appointed following a Bush campaign win," she said.

Krauss regularly refers reporters to a Philadelphia Inquirer article that links Steelman, Bush and an extramarital affair between Steelman and Bakersfield Congressman Bill Thomas (R-California). Steelman has been heavily involved in Republican plans to block Medicare drug reimbursements for the disabled, PWAs, and the elderly. Yet Steelman is now attracting negative press to the Bush campaign due to her political sex life.

So far, Bush has been silent on AIDS as governor and presidential candidate. And Bush's track record on AIDS in Texas has angered people with HIV across the country. Despite the high number of AIDS cases, state programs are chronically underfunded. State Representative Glen Maxey, founder of Texas AIDS Treatment Data Network and AIDS Services of Austin, stated that Bush is "Absent, nonexistent, AWOL" on AIDS.

Activists also charge that Bush has ignored a federal waiver to rescue the frequently bankrupt Assistance Program in Texas, which provides life-saving AIDS drugs to low income Texans. The waiver does not require state funds, but does require Bush's signature; the waiver remains unsigned. The program also suffers from restricted, tiered access and an extremely low income cutoff that leaves families with no access to treatment for AIDS.

For more information on ACT UP/Philly's efforts to help developing nations access to AIDS drugs, visit the following Internet sites; http://aids.org/healthgap/ or http:://durban2000march.org/

ACT UP/Philadelphia and Survive AIDS are not affiliated with the group that calls itself ACT UP/San Francisco and promotes HIV and AIDS denial.

Although infection rates in Hispanic communities are soaring, the state has dramatically decreased its funding to AIDS organizations in the Hispanic community.

* Despite the rise in HIV infections, Texas spending on HIV services has stayed level for eight of the last nine years, resulting in a per capita cut. Activists fear similar cuts in national AIDS spending if Bush were elected.
000803
BR000802

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2000. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2000. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .