Coalition of Scientists and AIDS Advocates Calls on Congress to Support Clinton AIDS Research Reform Proposals

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OVERHAUL
AIDS RESEARCH
ill Clinton has taken a correct first step by comnmitti ng
himself to naming an AIDS czar to oversee all research and prevention aimed at stopping the ravages
of the disease. As many companies are discovering, business
has a lot to learn about managing the welfare:of employees
who are stricken with AIDS (page 48). Just as there needs to
be someone in each company with specific responsibility for
AIDS-related policies and programs-backed from the top-the
federal government also needs to pinpoint responsibility.
There is plenty of room for improvement in managing
AIDs research. A top priority of the pew appointee should be
a reshuffling of the National Institutes of Health AIDS-research bureaucracy. After spending $15 billion over the past
decade, researchers have staked reputations and careers on
scientific approaches that have led to few treatments and no
cure for the deadly disease. A small coterie now controls
most federally sponsored AIDS research being done in the
U. S. Opening up the research effort to allow a wider range
of scientific approaches would raise the chances of success. A
new team would bring in fresh ideas, innovative scientific approaches, and a new energy in the battle against AIDS.
Unfortunately, early hopes of a treatment and cure for
AIDS have so far been dashed. Despite "fast expenditure,
the nucleus of researchers specializing in AIDS still does not
know precisely what causes the disease. While a single
source, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was initially thought to be the sole cause of AIDS, recent research
suggests that's not the case. It's now suspected that co-factors, other infections perhaps, may be necessary for AIDS to
develop. But researchers still don't know what these co-factors are or how they work in conjunction with HIV. Those
antiviral] drugs that appear to work against mH itself, such as
Burroughs Wellcome's AZT, were developed by private pharmaceutical companies.
There are plenty of examples of successfully recharging bureaucracies with energy. A shakeup is needed in NIH AIDS research. Throwing money at the old AIDS-research bureaucracy will not solve the problem. A new team with new
leadership could.
THE BOORS
OF WALL STREET
all Street is a hotbed of innovation. New securities, financing instruments, and trading strategies
are dreamed up daily. Yet as the Street rushes
pell-mell into the 21st century, its attitude toward employees
is too often stuck in the 19th century. Firms can be shockingly callous toward some important groups of employees, including minorities, people over 40, and-especially- women.
Kidder Peabody, in particular, has been hit by several
lawsuits, complaints, and other actions alleging sex, age,

and racial discrimination (page 60). Many women contend
that the firm is hostile toward them. They say they are often
subjected, for example, to a variety of comments that
amounts to sexual harassment. For those women, the firm
has been a very unpleasant place to work, which is why
many have left Kidder.
But Kidder is by no means alone in cultivating an atmosphere that resembles a cross between a locker room and a
fraternity party. Puerile high jinks on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange are common on slow trading days.
Male executive0o0 often are patronizing, condescending, and
demeaning whenthey talk to women. Despite this, some of
the Street's best traders, especially in swaps and foreign exchange, are women. So are many of the Street's highest-performing brokrs and investment bankers. But when it comes
to the high-level jobs, the glass ceiling on Wall Street is as
impenetrable as it is in most industries in the country.
If Wall Street wants to stay innovative, it must take advantage of all its resources. No doubt there are some Wall
Street leaders who see that as global and domestic competition intensifies, they will need all the talent they can find.
MEXICO:>
HANDLE WITH CAlRE
exico's President Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a
tireless leader who has in the past four years set
Mexico firmly on a path toward modernization.
He has done it with both savvy and iron will, opening up an
insular, outmoded economy to the fresh winds of competition
and efficiency. Having studied other systems, Salinas chose
an economy-first, politics-second approach to reform. While
the economic design is still a work in progress, politics is intruding more and more-from both sides of the border (page
40). At home, Salinas has to prove to his people that his ruling party can win elections without a hint of fraud.
But Washington is also watching closely. After all, no
First World country has ever before hitched its fate to a
Third World neighbor, and the consequences, in wage pressures, environmental degradation, and population flows, are
unknown. The Clinton Administration seems to be in sync
with Congress over concerns about Mexico's environmental
and labor conditions. No fewer than 18 committees of Congress will be poring over the North American Free Trade
Agreement and peering into Mexico's often opaque political
system. Indeed, while the economic relationship shows great
promise, with trade and investment booming in both directions, there are many other!i ues yet to be explored.
Still, trying to browbeat Mexico into agreements would be
a grave error. Talk about disinterring the ghost of Yanqui imperialism! Instead, Congress and the new Administration
need to step gingerly, bringing Mexico along without raising
hackles supersensitized by a century and a half of being
pushed around by ham-handed gringos. That means signing
NAFTA and forging reasonable side agreements to resolve differences on environment and labor rights. It will take a
level of statesmanship we don't often show toward Mexico,

but there's too much at stake not to try.

82 BUSINESS WEEK/FEBRUARY 1, 1993