Washington Blade - April 4, 2003

ATLANTA - Up to one-third of gay and bisexual men continue to use nonoxynol-9 during anal sex, despite repeated warnings that the spermicide doesn't prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and may boost the risk of HIV infection, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. It's clear that the facts about the risks of nonoxynol-9 "had not reached or impacted many men," study co-author Gordon Mansergh, a behavioral scientist at the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, told Gay.com UK. Last September, more than 80 medical professionals and health advocacy organizations spoke out against the popular spermicide citing evidence that the thin layers of the rectum are more susceptible to toxic damage from the spermicide. Nonoxynol-9 is often used in sexual lubricants, gels and condoms. In the CDC study, 573 gay and bisexual men from San Francisco were interviewed in the fall of 2001. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they heard of nonoxynol-9. Of those men, 83 percent said they'd used nonoxynol-9 products during their lives, and 67 percent - or one-third of all men surveyed - did so during anal intercourse within the past year. The findings of the study appear in the April 2003 issue of the journal AIDS.

Microbicide research receives boost from Gates Foundation

SEATTLE (AP) - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $60 million Monday to help scientists develop a cream or gel that prevents sexual transmission of the AIDS virus among women in developing countries. The foundation made the donation to the International Partnership for Microbicides in Silver Spring, Md. It is one of the largest the foundations made for global health initiatives and is a massive investment in the field of microbicides, which the foundation and IPM said is largely ignored by major pharmaceutical companies. Microbicides are gels, films, sponges and other products applied topically to help prevent sexual transmission of HIV. There are more than 50 microbial substances under development, said Zeda Rosenberg, IPM's chief executive officer. Although years of testing remain, it's possible that a microbicide could be available by the end of the decade, she said.

HIV counselors go online in new Mich. prevention campaign

FERNDALE, Mich. - The Midwest AIDS Prevention Project launched a new program - SexEd4U - in which trained HIV counselors join America Online chat rooms to reach men seeking other men for sex, according to the Detroit News. "This creates a safe haven for dialogue for people who want to remain anonymous," Michael Odom, the program's creator and director, who also serves as one of a handful of monitors for the chat rooms, told the newspaper. "Chat rooms are becoming the meeting places for gay men that bathhouses and bathrooms used to be." The project is the first in Michigan and is modeled after others in Boston and Miami, he said. Odom said he talked with some 72 people in January.

Advertising campaign by Calif. gay center targets smokers

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The city's Billy DeFrank Center launched a print ad campaign featuring local people in an attempt to curtail smoking among gays, according to the San Jose Mercury News. A $260,000 grant from the American Legacy Foundation paid for the campaign, dubbed "Cigarettes are My Greatest Enemy." "Some people are outraged - they view the campaign as too negative because it doesn't try to encourage smoking cessation from a more positive perspective," Patrick Soricone, DeFrank's executive director, told the newspaper. "They're pretty hard-hitting ads, and they are getting people's attention, so that's a good thing." Tobacco use among gays is nearly three times greater than the general population, in part because gays are heavily targeted through advertising, said David Martinez, tobacco education specialist at DeFrank. The ads feature people describing a personal obstacle they overcame, along with their commitment to quitting smoking.

Older brothers increase likelihood siblings will be gay, study says

SYDNEY - Boys with a statistical average of 3.5 older brothers are twice as likely to be gay as boys with no older brother, according to a study by Ray Blanchard, a psychologist at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto. The study, first published in a specialist journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior, and later in New Scientist, was reported by Agence France-Presse. A boy with four older brothers was three times as likely to be gay as boys with no older brother, according to the study. Blanchard, in the past, found a strong link between homosexuality and older brothers in a group of 302 gay white men. Later studies took the idea further, according to New Scientist, suggesting that the link is present across cultures. "If Blanchard is right, then clearly, as average family size decreases, so will the incidence of male homosexuality," according to New Scientist.

From staff and wire reports

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