Chicago Tribune (CT) - WEDNESDAY August 3, 1988 Edition: SPORTS FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 4 Word Count: 540
George E. Curry, Chicago Tribune
This story is a composite from the various editions.
TEXT:
WASHINGTON - President Reagan on Tuesday prohibited federal agencies from discriminating against employees with the AIDS virus and urged private employers to follow suit, but he stopped short of seeking a federal antidiscrimination law recommended by his own AIDS commission.
"The President has ordered all federal agencies to eliminate AIDS discrimination in the federal workplace by adopting the Office of Personnel Management policy on HIV-infected persons," said spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, referring to the human immunodeficiency virus.
The guidelines were drawn up this summer for the federal government's 2.3 million civilian employees. They state that employees infected with the AIDS virus should be allowed to work if they are physically able to do so.
The 13-member AIDS panel appointed by Reagan a year ago urged treatment of all AIDS victims as disabled persons and enactment of federal legislation to protect them from discrimination.
Instead Reagan asked businesses, unions and schools "to examine and consider adopting education and personnel policies based on the . . . (federal) guidelines."
He also ordered Dr. Donald Ian Macdonald, director of the White House Drug Abuse Policy Office, to report in September and December on progress the government has made in implementing the commission's recommendations.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), a key sponsor of an AIDS antidiscrimination bill, accused the President of "stalling."
"This administration has done its best to avoid making even a single helpful AIDS decision in the eight years of the Reagan presidency," Waxman said. "They handpick a commission, and then don't even have the courage to accept its recommendations."
"We don't need another study," he said. "What we need is leadership, and while Dr. (Surgeon General C. Everett) Koop and Adm. (James) Watkins (the AIDS commission chairman) have given that, once again the President is hiding."
Some White House officials, including Macdonald, have argued that 36 states, including California and New York, already prohibit discrimination against AIDS victims. At the same time, there is opposition in the White House to promoting a law that might be perceived as rewarding socially unacceptable behavior.
AIDS has struck most widely among homosexual males and intravenous drug users who share contaminated needles.
In his announcement Tuesday, Reagan also:
- Ordered the Food and Drug Administration to begin notifying those who received blood transufsions between 1977 and 1985 that they should take a test for the AIDS antibody. A test for the virus, which some experts believe entered blood supplies in l977, was not in widepsread use until 1985.
- Said he will help accelerate the development, approval and distribution of AIDS vaccines and drugs.
- Instructed the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate the current system of health financing and come up with ways to promote home care and medical assistance for uninsurable persons.
- Directed the department to develop a series of conferences on AIDS- related health issues.
- Directed the secretary of state to develop an international initiative to combat AIDS., with special emphasis on less developed countries.
Reagan said the steps he announced Tuesday would "assure compassion toward those with the HIV infection, provide dignity and kindness in treatment and medical care, and require that we inform and educate our citizens to prevent further spread of the disease."
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