Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, International Issues Subcommittee [Transcript]

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1 rights of Americans, and also the fact that there's a
2 profound ethical issue in failing, in a government -- I
3 don't know what to say about countries, but when a
4 government fails to proceed-- actually, I think AIDS has
5 set so many precedents. Why not set another one? That is,
6 when the government begins to invest money, public money in
7 an issue because of scientific interest or because of
8 public health issues or whatever, that the public has the
9 right to ensure that that progress will continue
10 reasonably.
11 What is reasonable? It's unreasonable to throw
12 yourself into a river if you don't know how to swim. It
13 would be unreasonable to take just any old thing and inject
14 it into people. But there is such a capacity here to
15 monitor the progress, the scientific progress done by, in
16 this case, NIH, so that if there is a barrier, if things
17 aren't proceeding normally, traditionally, which is all
18 we're asking -- we're not asking for an AIDS vaccine to get
19 special treatment. We're simply asking for it not to get
20 special treatment and be treated like every other vaccine
21 candidate has evolved.
22 So maybe a form of activism of a different sort
23 would be appropriate, but I think a combination of all
24 would be required.
25 MR. FOGEL: Let me just ask you, let's assume
26 that the President will say tomorrow to proceed with field

FREILICHER & ASSOCIATES, COURT REPORTERS
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