Statement by Secretary Heckler

-5 -
From the first day that AIDS was identified in 1981, HHS
scientists and their medical allies have never stopped searching
for the answers to the AIDS mystery.
Without a day of procrastination, the resources of the
Public Health Service have been effectively mobilized. Since
1981, a total of $75 million has been spent toward understanding
and overcoming this disease.
For the next fiscal year, the President has requested an
additional $54 million to pursue this effort. The work of the
National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control
and the Food and Drug Administration inspired by the progress
made to date will keep the research and investigation throttle
on the floor.
There will be no pause in bringing the full benefits of
today's discovery to the victims of AIDS and those at risk:
-- We must quickly take steps to mass produce the material
necessary for the blood test -- that work is underway;
-- We must accellerate our efforts to produce a vaccine to
prevent AIDS, as well as developing other interventions to halt
development of AIDS;