The New York Times - November 27, 1986
Richard L. Berke

Under the program, Foreign Service applicants who test positive for having AIDS antibodies would automatically be rejected from consideration for Foreign Service positions, according to William I. Bacchus, a special assistant in the State Department.

He said overseas employees of the Foreign Service, along with their dependents, would receive the AIDS test during their annual physicals. If they are found to have the AIDS antibody, their service abroad would be restricted, he said.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz has approved the program, but some details have yet to be completed, Mr. Bacchus said. Messages announcing the program have been sent to about 260 Foreign Service posts overseas and the 38 Federal agencies that use State Department medical services, he said.

First by a Civilian Agency

The Foreign Service AIDS screening program would be the first by a civilian agency. The military began such a screening program last year. The Department of Health and Human Services announced guidelines for private employers last year against screening workers, including those whose jobs involve public contact, for exposure to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The State Department program would affect at least 15,000 people, including Foreign Service employees abroad and their dependents over 18 years old.

Agency officials said that they expected the program to arouse controversy but that it was necessary to protect the health of Foreign Service employees overseas, who they said should not be sent to postings where they would not receive adequate medical attention.

"We had to do this because we don't have adequate medical treatment in many of the outposts," said Mr. Bacchus, special assistant to Ronald I. Spiers, the Under Secretary for Management. "It's a dilemma for us because you've got to staff all of these posts but you also have to worry about the employees' health."

'Going to Be Controversial'

A State Department official, who asked not to be identified, said: "Obviously this is going to be controversial. It is possible that we could get court action on this thing."

Gerald P. Lamberty, president of the American Foreign Service Association, which represents Foreign Service employees, said tonight that he did not know details of the plan, but did not expect his organization to oppose it.

"I don't think it's going to be a major issue," he said. "It's just another illness they're checking for."

But Thomas B. Stoddard, executive director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nonprofit national organization that defends the legal rights of homosexuals, said he believed that the program would be discriminatory. He said a positive AIDS antibody blood test means that a person has been exposed to the AIDS virus but does not necessarily mean that such a person has AIDS or will ever get AIDS.

"This has repercussions well beyond the State Department," Mr. Stoddard said. "It will create the impression generally that people who are positive are unable to work - an impression that is false and entirely contrary to the medical data. It is up to the employee to decide whether there are personal risks that are worth taking."

Relations With Foreign Nations

In addition to concern for the health of employees, State Department officials said a purpose of the program would be to maintain good relations with foreign countries.

"Obviously, there would be foreign policy implications," Mr. Bacchus said. "No country is going to be particularly happy to receive people who are representatives of another country - especially if they have AIDS."

Among the details of the program to be decided, State Department officials said, was whether a Foreign Service officer abroad should be reassigned if a dependent tests positive for the AIDS virus but remains in the United States.

AIDS cases have not been a major problem for the Foreign Service so far, Mr. Bacchus said. He estimated that there are 5 to 10 such cases involving Foreign Service employees.

In some respects, Mr. Bacchus said, restricting assignments for people who test positive for the AIDS virus "is no different from anything we do with a lot of medical conditions." He added, "We're not going to send someone with a heart condition to La Paz, for example, because of the altitude." La Paz, the Bolivian capital, is high in the Andes.

AIDS is a viral infection that attacks the body's immune system, leaving it unable to fight off disease. Scientists cannot say how many people who test positive for the AIDS virus will develop the disease, which is almost invariably fatal.

861127
NYT861136