Letter to the Editors

HIV Alert

Dear S&D:

In issue #37, R.F. Price questions whether HIV is the cause of AIDS (“The HIV/AIDS Controversy and Capitalist Science”). That “Exchange” piece raises some complicated issues about the science involved as well as about the political battles around defining the AIDS epidemic. I won’t attempt to address any of that here. But, as a prisoner/AIDS activist with 18 years experience, I want to refocus S&D readers’ attention to the life-and-death public health issues:

There is every reason in the world to take full precautions against viral transmission; those with HIV should seek treatment; the fight for universal access to AIDS drugs must continue. To give just one example of the practical aspects, there has been an 80% drop in the AIDS death-rate among New York State prisoners since the combination anti-retroviral drug therapies became available here.

Solidarity,
David Gilbert, 83A6158
Clinton Correctional Facility
Dannemora, New York

[Ed. note: David Gilbert’s recent book, No Surrender: Writings from an Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoner, was reviewed in S&D #37.]