Exploding Myths

“UNTIL now, most experts have held that every one is at risk of acquiring AIDS, so messages promoting less risky behavior. they say. should be broadcast scattershot. . . . But other experts are now arguing otherwise.” So read the first paragraph of a front-page New York Times story, in March 1993, entitled “Targeting Urged in Attack on AIDS.” Six years had elapsed between the appearance of my first article suggesting that AIDS be treated like other diseases—by identifying and then reducing risk factors—and the time that suggestion appeared in America’s newspaper of record. What happened during that time to me and to the first edition of my book shows how the AIDS debate has been dominated by politics, to the detriment of science and public health.

As of August of 1988. I had spent nine months negiotiating with a conservative think tank concerning a fel-howship to complete the book Every-thing had been confirmed and I was told that a letter would be sent in a matter of days with the official invitation. Then an article of mine appeared—a cover story in The New Republic—criticizing some conservatives’ reaction to AIDS. Several weeks went by without my receiving any letter. When I finally called I was told the fellowship had been denied and that was the end of it. There was never any written notification or reason given. The infamous article, incidentally, was entitled “The Political Uses of an Epidemic.”

About the Author

Michael Fumento

Michael Fumento is a journalist, author, and attorney who until recently lived in the Philippines.

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“UNTIL now, most experts have held that every one is at risk of acquiring AIDS, so messages promoting less risky behavior. they say. should be broadcast scattershot. . . . But other experts are now arguing otherwise.” So read the first paragraph of a front-page New York Times story, in March 1993, entitled “Targeting Urged in Attack on AIDS.” Six years had elapsed between the appearance of my first article suggesting that AIDS be treated like other diseases—by identifying and then reducing risk factors—and the time that suggestion appeared in America’s newspaper of record. What happened during that time to me and to the first edition of my book shows how the AIDS debate has been dominated by politics, to the detriment of science and public health.

As of August of 1988. I had spent nine months negiotiating with a conservative think tank concerning a fel-howship to complete the book Every-thing had been confirmed and I was told that a letter would be sent in a matter of days with the official invitation. Then an article of mine appeared—a cover story in The New Republic—criticizing some conservatives’ reaction to AIDS. Several weeks went by without my receiving any letter. When I finally called I was told the fellowship had been denied and that was the end of it. There was never any written notification or reason given. The infamous article, incidentally, was entitled “The Political Uses of an Epidemic.”