San Francisco Statement on HIV and AIDS
The City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health released the following statement by the San Francisco HIV Prevention Planning Council on June 29, 2000:"The HIV Prevention Planning Council (HPPC) is a community planning group set up by mandate of the [U.S.] Centers for Disease Control to prioritize HIV prevention efforts, using scientific data, in the city and county of San Francisco. It is our purview to advise the Department of Public Health about current trends and other HIV prevention issues.
"The HPPC believes that there is overwhelming proof that HIV causes AIDS. The HPPC believes that statements which deny that HIV causes AIDS have the potential to harm individuals by discouraging them from seeking accurate information and taking care of themselves based on that information. We also believe that these statements could be harmful to efforts to prevent HIV infections in the City and County of San Francisco by disseminating misinformation and half-truths and leading people away from fact-based science.
"We encourage everyone to seek complete, reliable information about HIV and to verify the sources of that information. We encourage members of the community to avoid being manipulated by anti-science mythology or inaccurate and incomplete information.
"We also encourage the community to remember that AIDS is not over, and that everyone is responsible to stay safe, and protect themselves and others."
