[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 76 (Tuesday, June 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5824-S5825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING TWENTY YEARS SINCE THE FIRST DIAGNOSES OF AIDS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to commemorate the beginning of a 
tragic chapter in human and medical history. Twenty years ago today the 
first cases of AIDS were diagnosed. Since that initial diagnosis in 
1981, the toll wreaked upon humanity by this disease is mind boggling. 
Twenty-two million people have already died. And an additional thirty-
six million people have become infected with HIV, the virus that causes 
AIDS.
  In 1981, no one imagined the impact HIV/AIDS would have in the 
ensuing two decades. And, unfortunately, no one would have imagined 
that the United States would be as slow as it has been to respond to 
what has become a grave international crisis.
  International public health experts estimate that the global fight 
against AIDS demands at least $7 billion per year. Meanwhile, in the 
last 15 years combined, the United States has invested only $1.6 
billion or a little over $100 million per year to fight this pandemic. 
In 1999, a year during which nearly five and a half million people in 
Africa alone were newly infected, the United States invested just $142 
million, less than .001 percent, of our foreign assistance budget that 
year, to fight AIDS.
  Too much time has been lost, and too little leadership has been 
demonstrated by America. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and 
Secretary Powell have indicated they now recognize this pandemic for 
what it is: a national security threat. It is time that we begin 
dedicating the resources that such a threat demands.
  In recent months, some progress has been made in combating AIDS. 
Governments, foundations, and corporations have begun to pledge 
donations to the Global Trust Fund to fight AIDS. Drug producers have 
also begun to make AIDS treatment more affordable for the more than 25 
million HIV-positive Africans. But much more remains to be done.
  However, the activities of the Global Trust Fund should not and 
cannot replace our bilateral efforts to bolster the health 
infrastructure of the countries struggling against this pandemic. 
Therefore, Congress can take three important steps to bolster our 
bilateral efforts and invest in the health care workers and researchers 
needed in the affected countries.
  First, Congress must provide the resources needed for increased 
training of public health workers on the ground.
  Second, Congress must increase spending on research in Africa--and 
insist that research dollars spent in these countries also go to the 
development of indigenous research capabilities.
  And third, Congress must try to create the incentives necessary to 
stop the steady outflow of African doctors and nurses from these 
ravaged countries.
  It is time to act. We have already lost two decades and tens of 
millions of lives to this deadly disease. We cannot afford to wait 
another two decades before we confront this disease with the dedication 
it demands.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today marks the 20th year since the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first published information 
in the Morbidity and Mortality Report on this illness we now call HIV/
AIDS. The past 20 years have seen immense loss, as well as significant 
medical advances, and this anniversary is a fitting time to renew the 
worldwide call for stronger action in the battle against this 
devastating global epidemic.
  Tragically, current reports from the CDC and from the Retrovirus 
Conference in Chicago indicate that the transmission of HIV is 
increasing among our youngest citizens. At least 50 percent of new 
infections in the U.S. occur in those under 25 years of age. Clearly, 
we can do more to combat this serious challenge that threatens to 
blight the lives of many of the Nation's youth.
  Our concern extends far beyond America's borders. President Bush has 
pledged $200 million for HIV/AIDS internationally, but we need to do 
far more, especially to help combat this massive HIV/AIDS crisis in 
developing nations. From orphaned children, to untrained workforces, to 
destabilized economies, the realities of HIV/AIDS in third-world 
nations are harsh. Today, nearly 40 million people worldwide continue 
to live with HIV/AIDS.
  Dealing more effectively with this global epidemic requires a 
stronger commitment from all of us both in Congress and in the 
administration, so that medical advances will benefit as many people as 
possible worldwide. The United States can set a proud example for the 
world community in dealing with HIV/AIDS by doing all we can to provide 
the resources needed for effective prevention programs, good treatment 
for those suffering from HIV/AIDS, and the development of a cure that 
will finally conquer it and save the lives of millions.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today to note the 20th 
anniversary of the passing of a constituent of mine . . . one of the 
five original deaths sited by a CDC report published 20 years ago 
today. Though the 553-word article only outlined a rare type of 
pneumonia--it also noted that the same strain had struck five gay men 
in Los Angeles, California. One of those five men in Los Angeles was an 
Oregonian and I stand here today to mark this somber anniversary.
  The world marks this date, June 5, 1981 as ground zero for the AIDS 
epidemic. Those early days marked a panic among urban populations of 
gay men, who at first made up the bulk of early AIDS cases. It wasn't 
until 1984 that researchers identified the AIDS virus, and throughout 
the 1980s much of the gay community's efforts were focused on 
organization and education, which became the hallmark for the early 
fight against AIDS. As this Nation all too slowly wakened to this 
epidemic, much of the groundwork had been laid by a community 
devastated by this disease. Slowly funding on the Federal level grew, 
and by the mid 1990s new drugs slowed but did not stop the progression 
of the disease.
  Today 36 million people are HIV-positive: almost a million in the 
United States alone, and almost a third of them don't know they have 
HIV. AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death globally and the leading 
cause of death in Africa. The statistics in that continent are mind-
numbing--in some countries, one of four adults are living with HIV/
AIDS. Life expectancies in those countries over the next five years 
have been slashed from the mid-60s to the early forties. Cumulative 
deaths attributable to AIDS on that continent numbered over 13 million 
by 1999, and the number of children orphaned by AIDS is estimated 
between 7 and 10 million. An estimated 1 million children in Africa are 
HIV-positive.
  There were about 5,000 cases of AIDS in Oregon last year, and the 
National Institutes of Health allocated over $16 million to 
universities and other institutions in the state to conduct research 
for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. In addition the government provided

[[Page S5825]]

about $800,000 in grants under the Housing Opportunities for Persons 
with AIDS program.
  But this day is not one solely devoted to statistics about this 
disease. Though the numbers are mind-numbing, sometimes the most 
devastating loss is measured in terms of those who contributed to our 
culture, our society, through literature, sports, public service and 
private business. AIDS has created a loss for our society in terms of 
books not written, music not played, business left undone, research 
undiscovered--put simply--lives not lived. On this somber anniversary I 
stand here on the Senate floor to note that one of the first was an 
Oregonian, a man named ``Chuck'' whose medical history is annotated in 
a CDC report released twenty years ago. Today's Washington Post noted 
only a sliver of his life--that he was from Oregon and that he had a 
penchant for wearing cowboy boots. Chuck has been dead for 19 years.

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