 
May 9, 2005
Racism, Denialism and Déjà Vu
by Staff
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2005
One of the noisiest HIV dustups of the week centers on events that are more than a decade old, when HIV foster children—many of them African-American “crack babies”— were given then-experimental HIV drugs like high-dose AZT, by government-funded scientists.
While the mainstream media were working the medical-racism and Tuskegee 2 angle, furious cybersniping gave the Internet a distinct feel of HIV denialism redux. “They're going to have cramps, diarrhea and their joints are going to swell up,” gasped one longtime HIV dissenter. Countered a well-known treatment activist: “This is a NON-scandal manufactured by AIDS denialists…a witch hunt.”
Two things are certain: The volume on the isms can’t get much louder, and many of those babies are still alive. The federal Office for Human Research Protections is investigating.
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