MONTROSE VOICE

THE NEWSPAPER OF MONTROSE 0 Cllommunitv CComp11nv D FR ID A Y October 27, 1989 0 ISSUE 470
MONTROSE WEATHER THROUGH MONDAY: Partly cloudy and mild. Highs about 83. lows about 64.
Group says fake AIDS cures prominent in Houston
Fraudulent cures for AIDS are be-
ing bought and sold openly
throughout the city, according to
an investigation by the Consumer
Health Education Council.
The council also found that
prominent AIDS organizations,
such as The People With AIDS Co-
alition Inc. and the AIDS Founda-
tion, made referrals to so-called al-
ternative health practitioners who
sell fraudulent remedies.
The group performed the survey
of 46 health food stores, nutrition
consultants, herbalists and other
non-scientific health practitioners
between Sept. 20 and Oct. 12, said
executive director Nicolas Martin.
"A member of the council would
explain on the telephone that he
had a brother who had AIDS and
could not take the widely pre-
scribed drug AZT due to side-ef-
fects he experienced;' Martin said.
"Our caller also said that his
brother's wife wanted to keep from
being infected while continuing to
have sex with her sick husband.
"Shockingly, only a few people
we surveyed seemed to under- .
stand the risk to this hypothetical
woman by continuing to have sex
with an infected man. Not a single
one even mentioned something
simple and effective like using
condoms to prevent infection:'
Martin said what the "self-or-
dained heaJth professionaJs really
wanted was to sell us lots of prod-
ucts claimed to kill the virus, block
symptoms :md boost resistance'.'
"We documented a bizarre as-
sortment of cures being sold for
AIDS, ranging from tinctures of
flowers to amino acids; Martin
said. "The easiest and most preva-
lent place to buy these fake cures is
at health food stores. There was
not a single Houston health food
store which did not offer to sell us
one treatment or another for the
disease or its symptoms. There
were also anxious to load us down
with supplements which were
claimed to prevent or make it
harder for an uninfected person to
catch AIDS'.'
Martin added a scandalous dis-
covery of the survey was that ma-
jor local AIDS organizations refer
inquiring callers to practitioners
selling fake treatments. The Peo-
ple With AIDS Coalition Houston,
the AIDS Foundation and Unity
Church all suggested calling an
individual at a health food store
who has no medical- credentials.
Martin said.
"We do not make any recommen
dations: said William J. Napoli.
director of The People With AIDS
Coalition Houston. "We have
treatment fil es, but we let people
make their own decision. We re-
ceive materials for various health
groups and all we do is provide
that information. But it's not up to
us to push or recommend any
treatment. That's the job of the
physician: