Subject: Reagan Seeks Broader Testing for AIDS
Date: Published: 6/1/87 71 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Reagan Seeks Broader Testing for AIDS,
   Moves to Bar New Immigrants With Virus
    ---
   By Ellen Hume
   Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

   WASHINGTON -- President Reagan, in his first major address
on the acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic, called
for broader testing for AIDS and moved to bar new immigrants
infected with the virus from entering the U. S. 
   "AIDS affects all of us ...  America faces a disease that
 is fatal and spreading.  This calls for urgency, not panic,"
Mr. Reagan said at actress Elizabeth Taylor's benefit dinner
for the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
   The president called for mandatory testing of all federal
prisoners and asked for a review of other federal programs,
such as veterans hospitals, to see if testing is appropriate
there.  Mr. Reagan, continually interrupted by applause and
hisses as he spoke of Americans' moral duty to be tested,
encouraged states to offer routine testing of marriage
license applicants and mandatory testing of state and local
prisoners.
   The president also ordered that the virus be added to the
list of contagious diseases for which new immigrants can be
denied entry to the U. S. While his speech didn't spell out
whether he advocates mandatory or voluntary premarital
testing, Mr. Reagan prefers mandatory premarital tests,
according to his domestic policy adviser, Gary Bauer.
   "AIDS is surreptitiously spreading throughout our
population, and yet we have no accurate measure of its
scope," the president said, arguing that the tests would help
improve the government's statistical base on the epidemic.
   Despite the urging of many public health officials,
including Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Mr. Reagan didn't
endorse any specific federal educational program, such as a
sexually explicit mailer about AIDS that was sent to every
household in Great Britain last year.
Instead, Mr. Reagan emphasized that morals and values be
taught to limit the further spread of the virus.  He added
that further education about "preventatives and other
specific measures" also may be appropriate.
   He didn't spell out in the speech that AIDS is transmitted
predominantly through sexual intercourse and intravenous drug
use.  But emphasizing that AIDS is "not a casually contagious
disease," he urged that AIDS carriers not be discriminated
against or barred from routine school or work activity.
"There's no reason for those who carry the AIDS virus to wear
a scarlet A," the president said.
   Surgeon General Koop and other public health officials
have opposed the emphasis on testing as an inefficient use of
limited funds for fighting AIDS. But Dr. Koop agreed last
 week that a mixture of mandatory and voluntary testing might
help improve the government's statistical knowledge about the
spread of AIDS, according to White House officials.
   Mr. Bauer, the domestic policy advisor, said the emphasis
on testing has gained momentum recently.  "Not only has a
consensus developed in this administration on this idea of
routine testing, but I think a consensus is building in the
medical community too.  Six months ago this might have been
considered a right-wing position but that's changed," he
said.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]