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MORE GOVERNMENT LIES ABOUT SEX
By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid
The U.S. Government has been promoting the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, STDs, through the so-called "safe sex" through condoms message. The government itself, in a report from the National Institutes of Health, the NIH, recently admitted that condoms do NOT protect against most STDs. The report, a review of 128 available studies, says condoms can reduce the spread of AIDS and gonorrhea, but it could not say that they reduce the spread of genital herpes, syphilis and the cancer-causing human papillomavirus virus (HPV). This report was big news. But most of the major media ignored it. Some who covered it suggested it was a conservative plot to stop people from having sex. The media got another chance to tell the truth when former Congressman Tom Coburn, who requested that NIH study, held a Capitol Hill news conference to demand that Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the director of the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, resign because his agency has been disseminating false information about the effectiveness of condoms. Coburn, a doctor, was joined by Congressman Dave Weldon, another doctor, in calling for Koplan to go. A group called the Physicians Consortium, which represents 10,000 physicians, joined in the request for his resignation Dr. John Diggs, a spokesman for the Physicians Consortium, said, "This has all of the earmarks of a good old-fashioned medical cover-up." The group said the CDC’s campaign of misinformation "has contributed to the STD epidemic in America and the suffering and even death of many of our patients." Another representative, Dr. Alieta Eck, said it’s a sad day when the public cannot trust the government and its most reputable health agency to provide them with the facts to make the best decisions. Washington Post reporter Ceci Connolly had said that government officials had not wanted to release the study about the ineffectiveness of condoms. They wanted to continue to deny information to the American people about how condoms could not protect people against diseases and even death. But these officials figured that the report would have to be released eventually through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Physicians Consortium has been filing such requests under the law. Back in December of 2000, the group asked for documents from the FDA pertaining to the misleading labeling of condom packages. The FDA has not complied. In March, the group filed a request under the Freedom Of Information Act for documents relating to the NIH study on condoms. The NIH has not released anything in response to the request. There is a pattern here. The government has been disseminating and approving false information about condoms and doesn’t want the public to understand how their lives have been put a risk. It is a typical cover-up. But it’s also a violation of the law under which government documents are supposed to be provided to the American people. The Washington Times ran a good story about the Coburn press conference, but the rest of the media were silent. It’s up to President Bush to take action before more lives are lost. He can seek the resignation of Dr. Koplan.
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