Subject: ACT UP SF vs. AIDS Inc. (Vancouver, Part 1)
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 03:36:05 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: July 8, 1996 

CONTACTS: 
David Pasquarelli in Vancouver:  (604) 240-4967
Michael De Hart in Vancouver: (604) 240-4152
ACT UP SF hotline: (604) 980-4547 ext. 324 
 
ACT UP SF Demands New Research Direction at AIDS Conference
----------
Activists call for a shift to an immune-based AIDS treatment paradigm; say
combination therapy harms body's natural defense mechanism against
intracellular infections.

Vancouver, B.C. - Chanting "Old Promises; New Drugs; Same AIDS Scam",
hundreds of angry AIDS activists led by ACT UP San Francisco marched to the
opening ceremony of the XI International Conference on AIDS. Screaming
protestors marched behind a banner that read "AIDS Drugs Kill. Ban Toxic AZT.
Sue Glaxo!" and demanded that drug companies, AIDS organizations and
conference organizers stop promoting expensive, immune suppressive therapies.
Demonstrators asserted that research efforts focusing on suppressing HIV are
dangerously flawed and they demanded that the AIDS research community focus
on strengthening cellular immunity; the body's natural defense against the
intracellular infections that kill people with immune system diseases.

ACT UP members charged that AZT and other AIDS drugs have been approved on
the basis of fraudulent data from short-term clinical trials paid for and
conducted by the products' manufacturers. Furthermore, they say that AZT and
other antiviral drugs, including the new crop of protease inhibitors, impair
the creation and functioning of important immune system cells, especially
cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD8s). Research has shown that elevated levels of
CD8s is one of the most important characteristics of those who are long term
survivors of AIDS.

To underscore their rage over the promotion of potentially deadly AIDS
treatments at the international conference, ACT UP members demanded that
Glaxo-Wellcome, a U.K.-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, immediately stop
production of its antiviral drug AZT. AZT was the first anti-HIV therapy
approved for use in treating AIDS. The drug is prescribed internationally to
both people with AIDS and asymptomatic HIV-positives despite the growing body
of scientific evidence that long term use of the chemotherapeutic agent is
ineffective at halting disease progression and harmful to cellular immunity.

"We have all the hoopla about antiviral drugs, and you get any virologists
aside and they'll say this is not how we're going to win," contends
retrovirologist Jay Levy of the University  of California, San Francisco in
the latest issue of Science.  To clear all the virus from the body, Levy
says, "it's high time we look at the immune system."

ACT UP members cited the urgent need for AIDS researchers, when testing
potential AIDS therapies, to measure clinical endpoints such as survival time
and the delay in the onset of opportunistic infections rather than merely
manipulating unreliable surrogate markers like peripheral blood viral load
and CD4 (or T-cell) counts. They also demanded that baseline and final CD8
counts be reported in all clinical trial data.

"Look, we know that lowering blood viral load to undetectable levels does not
mean that infected individuals have eliminated HIV from their bodies. They
are not cured of AIDS. In fact, lowering blood viral load with immune
suppressive treatments has not been associated with any clinical benefit
including extension of or improvement in quality of life," warned ACT UP SF
member Michael De Hart.

Continued AIDS activist Medea Lopez, "All the hype surrounding the importance
of blood viral load testing is nothing but the latest marketing scheme by the
pharmaceutical industry to lure frightened people with HIV into taking their
unproven, expensive harmful concoctions. It's nothing but mass murder on a
global scale and we are determined to stop it now!"

Instead of using blood viral load tests to encourage people with AIDS to
initiate lifelong, immunosuppressive combinations of unproven therapies,
activists urged researchers to immediately investigate nontoxic contact
sensitizers like dinitrochlorobenze (DNCB) that strengthen cellular immunity.

DNCB is a photochemical solution that when applied topically to the skin
elicits an immune response in infected patients that is believed to control
HIV replication and delay the onset of opportunistic infections. Regardless
of what treatment options people with AIDS utilize, ACT UP San Francisco
members stated that DNCB should be the foundation of a holistic therapeutic
protocol for all people with syndromes of immune dysfunction. 

ACT UP SF members claimed that they are determined to utilize civil
resistance to stop all clinical trials that use combinations of
immunosuppressive drugs. The AIDS dissidents promised to increase their
direct action efforts during the international conference to spread their
message about the perils of heavily promoted antiviral drugs. Activists say
they will do everything within their power to put an end to the dangerous
influence of the pharmaceutical industry that is preventing the emergence of
an immune-based AIDS treatment paradigm.

"It's time to derail the AIDS gravy train and bring this madness to a
crashing halt," announced ACT UP member Michael Bellefountaine. "We are
determined to do whatever it takes to shift the focus of AIDS research onto
strengthening rather than destroying cellular immunity."

ACT UP San Francisco invites the media, conference attendees and the AIDS
community of Vancouver to learn more about cellular immunity by attending a
free panel discussion of individuals with dissenting opinions about the cause
and treatment of AIDS. The discussion will take place from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
on Tuesday, June 9th 1996 in the New Lecture Theatre of St. Paul's Hospital.
St. Paul's is located at 1081 Burrard Street in Vancouver's West End. 

# # #

The Vancouver Sun
Monday, July 8, 1996, Page B3c
Reprinted with permission

Activists clash over treatment of AIDS
by Brenda Bouw

A confrontation erupted Sunday in front of Terry Fox Plaza between two
separate groups within ACT UP.

Differing factions of a prominent AIDS activist group stood nose-to-nose in
Vancouver Sunday, shouting at each other over their opposing views on how the
disease should be treated.

The argument, between two separate groups within the organization ACT UP
(AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), broke out in front of Terry Fox Plaza
around 2:30 p.m. It happened just after both sides were involved in a
peaceful march to support people with AIDS.

One side, ACT UP San Francisco - the smaller of the two factions - believes
other groups within the organization are focusing two heavily on treatments
for the disease being offered by large drug companies.
The other side, which includes ACT UP chapters in California, New York,
Philadelphia and Paris, say they give AIDS sufferers information on all sorts
of treatments so people can choose.

The confrontation was one of the first of many altercations and
demonstrations expected during the 11th International Conference on AIDS in
Vancouver this week.

The disease is politically controversial because of differing opinions
between doctors, scientists, politicians and people with AIDS about funding,
and how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, should be treated.

Sunday's confrontation in front of an assembly of media cameras and
microphones, began after members of ACT UP San Francisco started chanting
"Lots of chemotherapy, no cure for AIDS!" referring to their belief that drug
companies are dominating research efforts to treat the disease.

In reply, ACT UP Golden Gate of California shouted: "We want choices not
insane voices," referring to their opponents as a minority part of the
organization.

Stephen LeBlanc, of ACT UP Golden Gate, called the San Francisco members
crazed fanatics.

"People are going to die needlessly if they listen to ACT UP San Francisco,"
said LeBlanc, his voice rising over screams and chants.

"We've been about honest information and honest dissemination of the science
and letting individuals with HIV make their own choice about treatment."

LeBlanc also said ACT UP San Francisco has only six members and no support
among those infected with HIV.

"These are HIV negative individuals who don't know what they are talking
about and misrepresent the data," said LeBlanc.

But Michael Bellefountaine of ACT UP San Francisco said his opponents are
lobbyists for large drug companies.

And he said ACT UP San Francisco is the only group within the organization
that hasn't taken funds from the drug companies.

"We're here to say if you want to take a shot, take it, but make sure you
know what you're promoting," he said.

Bellefountaine said he thinks the conference focuses too much on drug
companies who appear to be out to make money, not to help people with the
disease live longer lives.

"Look at who's promoting it, look at who's putting the money in it and look
at the message. If it were me I'd rather carry on on my own than be poisoned
to death," said Bellefountaine.

ACT UP literature printed for the conference says that the Golden Gate, New
York and Philadelphia chapters are not affiliated with the San Francisco
group.

In its literature, ACT UP San Francisco says the conference amounts to "Old
promises, new drugs, same scam."