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Friday, September 10, 2004

Petrol on the fire

A new report has appeared indicating that the injectable contraceptive Depo Provera can triple the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD). This new research has sobering implications for the AIDS epidemic in Africa and our role in it. The U.S. foreign aid establishment would sooner eat ground glass than admit it, but it is very likely that our family planning programs have been aiding the spread of the HIV virus. The bottom line? As the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa rages out of control, we have been recklessly promoting and distributing drugs which make women even more vulnerable to the deadly virus. We have been pouring gasoline on a fire.

(Steve Mosher, Population Research Institute, by email)