REAGAN DEFENDS FINANCING FOR AIDS (Published 1985)
- ️Wed Sep 18 1985
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- Sept. 18, 1985
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President Reagan, who has been accused of public indifference to the AIDS crisis by groups representing victims of the deadly disease, said last night that his Administration was already making a ''vital contribution'' to research on the disease within the limits imposed by ''budgetary restraints.''
Mr. Reagan was asked at his news conference if he could support ''a massive Government research program against AIDS like the program that President Nixon launched against cancer,'' in which Mr. Nixon called in 1971 for a ''total national commitment'' to ''conquering this dread disease.'' Mr. Reagan said that he had been supporting research into AIDS, acquired immune deficiency sydrome, for the last four years and that the effort was a ''top priority'' for the Administration.
The President also expressed sympathy for both sides in the controversy over whether children suffering from AIDS should be permitted to attend school with healthy children.
His remarks appeared to be the first time he has publicly addressed the issue of the lethal disease that has claimed thousands of victims, primarily among male homosexuals, intravenous drug addicts and hemophilliacs whose condition requires frequent blood transfusions. Although the Department of Health and Human Services has declared AIDS its ''number one priority,'' Mr. Reagan himself has been criticized by groups calling for more Government action on the disease.
No Cure or Vaccine for Disease
The disease is belived to be caused by a virus that destroys the body's immune system, leaving it vulnerable to attack by other infections that then kill the victim. The disease is almost uniformly fatal. Thus far some 13,000 cases have been reported in this country. There is, as yet, no cure and no vaccine to prevent the disease.
Mr. Reagan was told by one questioner that the ''best-known AIDS scientist in the country'' had said the time had come to embark on ''a minor moon shot program to attack this AIDS epidemic that has struck fear into the nation's health workers and even in school children.'' The scientist was later identified by The Associated Press as Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, who discovered the virus that is believed to cause AIDS and who reportedly made the remarks in an interview with The A.P. earlier this year.