Chicago Tribune (CT) - WEDNESDAY, July 2, 1997 Edition: NORTH SPORTS FINAL Section: METRO CHICAGO Page: 3 Word Count: 615
Terry Wilson, Tribune Staff Writer.

Medical experts and care-givers, who gathered at Malcolm X College for a seminar titled "Tuskegee: Legacy of Mistrust," examined the impact the federal government research project continues to have on minority opinions. Researchers specifically discussed hurdles in preventing AIDS among African-Americans, who show the fastest-growing infection rate.

Nationally, for example, AIDS death rates have fallen by 12 to 13 percent for white men, who in many cases received the new medications in drug trials and via prescription, the physicians said. But blacks, who are more hesitant to participate in such trials, are seeing only a 3 to 4 percent decrease.

Although other factors may play a role in such statistics, experts on the panel agreed that much can be learned from the Tuskegee study, in which 399 poor rural black men in Macon County, Ala., were allowed to go untreated for syphilis from 1932 until 1972. The cure--penicillin--went into use in 1947, but was withheld from the research subjects so scientists could document the course of the disease.

"The legacy of the Tuskegee syphilis study is that African-Americans distrust medical research," said Sandra Crouse Quinn, a researcher from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies AIDS prevention. "They're much more hesitant to take new drugs and participate in clinical drug trials."

The drugs to which Quinn was referring, called protease inhibitors, have shown dramatic results in restoring the health of many people with AIDS.

Several speakers said they have seen the mistrust firsthand. They have heard people cite the Tuskegee study while others told them they believed the AIDS virus is a genocide agent created by the government.

The Tuskegee experiment, conducted by the U.S. Health Department, is one of many factors in the rift, the doctors said.

Nine speakers, including U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), addressed the 150 care-givers at the event, sponsored by Chicago's HIV Prevention Planning Group, the Illinois Prevention Community Planning Group, the Chicago Department of Public Health and Malcolm X College. The speakers imparted historical facts and personal experiences.

"The Tuskegee study is an incredibly well-documented model of how alienation plays out," said Bill Jenkins, a supervising epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who also works with the survivors of the study. "It shows how racism and how classism work in a system that excludes and alienates poor African-Americans."

Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, an associate professor of history and medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was chairwoman of the committee that worked to gain the presidential apology, told the audience that the lack of trust goes back to slavery.

"If you were to look at the historical record, you will see that blacks' distrust predated Tuskegee," Gamble said. "There were experiments done more often (by whites) on slaves and free blacks than there were on poor whites."

Clinton's apology, she said, marks the beginning of much-needed talks on the subject.

"These men served their country in a way that most of us are not asked to serve and were deceived into that service," she said. "The apology meant a lot to me and it meant a lot to them."

CAPTION: PHOTO: A seminar speaker, epidemiologist Bill Jenkins, says the Tuskegee study revealed classism. PHOTO: Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble of the University of Wisconsin at Madison encourages people to value the president's apology to Tuskegee syphilis study survivors. She spoke Tuesday at Malcolm X College. Tribune photos by Ovie Carter.

Copyright 1997/The Chicago Tribune. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.
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