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• Friday, December 8, 2006 02:45 PM

  Placebos and Consent

  "Their consent to receive a placebo is not the issue; the issue is that they should have been given either the standard treatment or the experimental one - not a placebo at all."

  Well, that's exactly what I was talking about when I posted my "AZT Nonsense" letter. AZT is the "standard of care" in AIDS patients, so all subsequent drugs are compared with it. I usually refer to this as comparing the new, improved taking of lighter fluid to the old, standard dose of Drano. AZT is incompletely tested and conclusively dangerous -- just look at its label. A skull and crossbones, in any language, means poison.

  "Desperate people consent to all sorts of things that aren't ethical." -- Then hey, doesn't that make seeking their consent un-ethical? Maybe that was the letter writer's point, so thanks if it was. If not, perhaps you should re-read the Nuremberg Code if you can get your hands on it on the Web. What made such people desperate was an unfounded interpretation of what HIV tests mean, for themselves and their babies. The people who participated in creating that desperation are the very ones offering the drug testing. If participating means free medical care, maybe the kinder, gentler liberalism we should be offering African women is simply free medical care, no guinea-pig strings attached.

  And by the way, HIV tests are not the norm in Africa, because the definition of "AIDS" there doesn't require one.

  Also, pregnancy is a documented cause of false-positive HIV test results. So many of these women are not HIV-positive. (Not that the meaning of "HIV-positive" has been clearly defined, either, but that's another story.)

  If I were looking for a promising drug to stop herpes transmission to an infant during delivery, I would certainly not be looking at AZT, with its, by now, known toxicities. There has to be an easier way.

  And I thank the Salon staff for highlighting my letter with an "Editor's Choice," but for the sake of anyone who might gain a new insight and caution about HIV drugs from reading it. If you are inspired, pass it on. I write out of sincere concern and hope that Salon will investigate these questions in further articles.

  Make this a truly educational "AIDS Awareness Month."

  —Tashmoo711 Read Tashmoo711's other letters
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