FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: July 26, 2000
CONTACT:
Phony HIV Scare Prompts Call for DPH Dismissals SAN FRANCISCO -- Three weeks after squawking to the press like an AIDS Chicken Little that San Francisco was suddenly in the midst of "sub-Saharan African levels of HIV transmission," Department of Public Health (DPH) epidemiologist Willi McFarland continued to duck questions about his study that alleged a tripling of The City's HIV rate. As a result, a dozen activists from the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) stormed the San Francisco AIDS Office on Monday, July 24 brandishing poster-sized pink slips reading "You're Fired!" and staged a one hour sit-in. Outraged ACT UP members accused McFarland of "statistical lying, promulgating HIV hysteria by scapegoating Queers, and general nincompoopism." They demanded a meeting and copies of his study to review. When DPH officials failed to accommodate them, activists took to the street in front of the 25 Van Ness office and staged a high-profile press conference. "On June 30, the Department of Public Health in cooperation with the San Francisco Chronicle launched a statistical lie by broadcasting that HIV rates were soaring in this city," shouted ACT UP member David Pasquarelli through a bullhorn to media and passersby. Meanwhile, other activists chanted "Fire the Liars! Fire the Crooks! Mitch and Willi Cooked the Books!" while pulling stacks of brightly colored paper numbers out of hats and throwing them in the air to symbolize the "numbers game" the Department of Public Health was playing to grab more AIDS funding for San Francisco. ACT UP members were quick to point to the December 10, 1999 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Staff Report confirming that new HIV cases had, in fact, peaked nationally in 1984 and locally in 1982. Furthermore, they cited DPH statistics showing that the number of HIV positive results from S.F. anonymous testing sites dropped from 271 in 1995 to 149 in 1999. Similarly, the ratio of HIV positive results per tests administered also fell from 2.79% to 2.42% over the same time period -- the exact opposite of the threefold increase trumpeted by McFarland and Health Department Director Mitch Katz. After two hours of waiting for McFarland, the ACT UP mob rushed over to the San Francisco Health Department to demand Katz's ouster. Slipping into a side door, activists made their way to the Health Director's office and barged in unannounced, coincidentally interrupting a private meeting between Katz and AIDS honcho James Loyce. As a group of protesters chanted "HIV is a lie! It's toxic pills that made them die!" others tossed copies of the July 6, 2000 Bay Area Reporter entitled "DPH bungles on HIV infection rate increases." Activists left peacefully after security arrived but vowed to return and escalate if their demands -- including the firing of the two DPH officials and the removal of "male homosexual contact" as a CDC-defined high risk behavior -- were not immediately met. "Comparing AIDS in San Francisco to the problems caused by poverty in Africa is racist," commented ACT UP member Ronnie Burk. "And blaming gay men for a bogus HIV increase not only stigmatizes us as diseased, it creates an atmosphere where violence against us becomes acceptable. For the sake of our self-esteem, sexual freedom and safety, Queers must reject the antigay HIV lie and fight homophobic stereotyping by public health officials."
Press photos (digital and paper) are available by contacting ACT UP via phone, fax or email. A compilation of press reports critical of the alleged San Francisco HIV rate surge can be found on the ACT UP website (www.actupsf.com). =====
ACT UP San Francisco
To contact us: ACTUPTO@mailcity.com |