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FAIR's Letter To Pamela Anderson
%2041KB.jpg) 7/7/2005 Ms. Pamela Anderson Dear Ms. Anderson, Thank you for your efforts on behalf of hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS patients. Most Americans are not aware that the death rate in our country from AIDS has plummeted as evidenced by the 97 percent drop in California’s newly infected AIDS patients[i] to 250 (as of 5/31/05) and this success against AIDS is being repeated throughout America, yet AIDS still receives ten percent of the entire National Institutes of Health (NIH) disease research budget. Such exorbitant funding for AIDS has resulted in unfair allocations for all non-AIDS diseases, including the sixteen that kill a million more Americans than AIDS annually.[ii] For example, while your own hepatitis C (HCV) affects 4-5 times as many as AIDS and kills almost as many, only $25 is allocated for each HCV patient. Indeed, as a result of the excellent new drugs for AIDS patients, more AIDS patients are now dying of liver failure with hepatitis C as a cause than they are dying of the opportunistic infections that used to kill them. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease kills almost a million Americans compared to 18,017 (2003)[iii] for AIDS, yet the NIH is spending only $40 on each CVD patient versus $3,084 on each AIDS patient in research.[iv] Diabetes kills more citizens than AIDS and breast cancer combined, yet only $80 is spent on each diabetic in research. Regardless if the funding comparison is measured utilizing “allocation per patient,” “allocation per death” or “total allocation” per disease, the great success of AIDS researchers has resulted in funding for AIDS now being disproportionate and inequitable. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars are raised for AIDS by celebrities such as yourself and non-profit organizations (amfAR, etc.) while similar efforts do not exist for many other diseases. The NIH has responded to The FAIR Foundation’s requests to cease the favoritism afforded HIV/AIDS and to reallocate some of the present AIDS dollars to other diseases by referencing global AIDS and the fact that AIDS is communicable (infectious). What is the solution for global AIDS—more research? No, the answer to global AIDS is the same solution that has dropped the death rate in California 97 percent, namely: preventive education, the drugs that have been developed that have converted AIDS from an acute illness into a chronic illness (HAART or Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy) and Harm Reduction Policies. Regarding the “communicable” nature of AIDS, Congress must force realization upon the NIH that simply because an illness is “infectious” does not warrant disproportionate research funding. Furthermore, patients suffering from non-communicable illnesses such as prostate diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, etc. should not be discriminated against because they cannot transmit their disease to another person or because its etiology is congenital or acquired by environmental causes. You recently stated at Toronto’s Fashion Cares AIDS Benefit that AIDS is “not a gay man’s disease. Actually women are children are the fastest group of people getting it.”[v] As evidenced by the latest Centers for Disease Control Surveillance Report (enclosed) the vast majority of infected patients are from male to male sexual contact and the number of women and children with AIDS is relatively small. Indeed, only 29 children under the age of 13 are estimated as having AIDS and 4,736 women. Compare that to the death rates in women from heart disease (267,000), lung cancer (68,000) or breast cancer (40,410).[vi] The FAIR Foundation (FAIR is an acronym for “Fair Allocations In Research) is a national organization representing thousands of Americans—concerned citizens—who want the success of AIDS advocates and AIDS researchers recognized with a corresponding change in the allocation priorities of the NIH. We are respectfully requesting that you consider focusing your future efforts on non-AIDS diseases, including hepatitis C. Indeed, as a Viva Glam spokesperson, millions more will go to AIDS when hepatitis C is now so in need. Three billion is spend by the NIH on HIV/AIDS versus 118 million for hepatitis C. Thank you for your consideration of this request to redirect your fund-raising efforts to more deserving diseases. Sincerely yours,
[i]
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/aids/Statistics/pdf/Stats2005/May05AIDSmerged.pdf
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