Page 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 4, 1985
4
Panel advises businesses on AIDS victims
IN BRIEF
COMPILED FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
NEW YORK (UPI) - A group advising leading
New York businesses on health issues suggested
yesterday that companies force employees suf-
fering from AIDS to work at home.
Gay rights activists angrily called the proposal
"de facto discrimination," despite the New York
Business Group on Health's strong urging that
osses treat workers with AIDS as they would any
other seriously ill employee.
THE BUSINESS Group on Health, which counts
Bloomingdale's and New York Telephone Co.
among its 265 members, made the suggestion at a
forum on "options and constraints" in dealing
with workers suffering from the fatal disease.
More than 150 representatives form large and
small businesses in New York questioned a panel
of medical and legal experts on hiring and firing
AIDS patients, benefit plans, and employee
morale.
"Our thesis is employers should recognize the
importance of AIDS as a problem and prepare for
its eruption" said Dr. Leon Warshaw, group
executive director.
"THEY should form fairly explicit policies and
procedures. Otherwise, they'll find themselves
suddenly involved in a crisis situation and as a
result they will be liable to take ill-considered ac-
tions, knee-jerk reactions that could boomerang,"
he added.
Some companies have become embroiled in
legal battles because they fired employees suf-
fering from acquired immune deficiency syn-
drome, Warshaw said.
He said the Business Group on Health has
received a spate of calls about AIDS in recent
months. The group plans to publish guidelines by
early February, but Warshaw said there were "no
definitive" solutions.
WARSHAW said workers with AIDS should be
treated like any other seriously ill employee, war-
ning there are strict state and federal anti-
discrimination laws.
Companies should educate their workers about
AIDS and inform them of the prevailing medical
opinion that the fatal illness cannot be spread by
casual contact, Warshaw said.
But he acknowledged that it could be difficult
convincing employees that AIDS patients posed no
danger in the workplace.
ALTHOUGH Warshaw said most of the
problems were diffused by education, he added
that companies could also transfer recalcitrant
employees or force an AIDS sufferer to work at
home.
But some gay rights organizations were angered
by the proposal to force people with AIDS out of
the workplace.
"That suggestion is totally inappropriate," said
Ron Najman of the National Gay Task Force.
"It's counter-productive, and it leads to de facto
discrimination. They are speaking with forked
tongue here. It's opening the door to tolerating
hysteria and panic."
Gay men comprise the largest percentage of the
more than 14,000 diagnosed AIDS cases in the
United States.
General
Dynamics
loses
Many gays take precautions against AIDS
(Continued from Page 1)
people are going to learn the facts and
see themselves at not a great risk.
Then some of the hysteria will go
away."
JIM TOY, the male advocate of the
University's Lesbian-Gay Male Of-
fice, said he doesn't see a great deal of
Dysteria in the local gay community
- about five to 10 percent of the cam-
pus population. However, the impact
of heightened discrimination has
teflected on gay people's self-esteem.
"Some people react to
discrimination by getting into
behavior that is conceivably harmful
to them," he said, citing such actions
as trying to bury their low self-esteem
in alcohol and having frequent sex
with strangers.
Another reaction to anti-gay sen-
iments is denial, Toy said. Denial
could result in some gays who believe
they may be exposed to the disease
failing to take the blood test which can
detect the antibody that forms in
response to the AIDS virus.
ONLY a "small percentage of the
gay population" is taking the blood
test, Toy said.
Kikuchi said the lack of accurate in-
formation available on the disease
has created members of the gay
population "who still don't know
much about the disease."
Because of this lack of reliable in-
formation, "people don't think it's
going to affect them," Kikuchi said.
WHEN PEOPLE personally know
of cases within the local community,
Kikuchi said, "it will wake them up."
None of the gay men interviewed by
the Daily said they knew of anyone
locally who had contracted AIDS.
But local gays say they are not
going to wait for an Ann Arbor out-
break to force them to take
precautions. Many are changing their
sexual habits, taking greater respon-
sibility.
DAVID Jackson, a member of the
Michigan Gay Union, said he sees
among sexually active gays a "new
surge in having safe sex by taking
preventative measures such as rub-
bers."
There is "much more emphasis on
looking for a long-term partner" while
having a lot of sexual partners is
decreasing, Jackson said.
Dr. Stephen Ross, a University
Hospitals infectious disease
specialist, said gays nationwide are
changing their sexual practices to
lower their risks of contracting AIDS.
"HOMOSEXUAL populations in
San Francisco and New York are
changing their sexual habits by
decreasing the number of contacts
and increasingly using better
methods to prevent the transfer of the
[ D
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disease," mainly by using condoms,
Ross said.
Health Service Director Caesar
Briefer supports gays and non-gays
taking added precautions to prevent
the spread of the disease.
"The emphasis in preventing the
spread of AIDS should be in re-
examining our sexual practices," he
said, and not worrying about whether
the guy down the hall has it.
BRIEFER emphasized the
avoidance of sex with strangers and
the use of condoms during intercourse
as important precautionary
measures.
A gay University graduate student
who asked to be referred to as Phil,
said gays do not have to react to the
fear of AIDS by abstinence. To stop
having sex would be harmful to their
well-being, he added.
If gay men are told they cannot
have sex, it will be "detrimental," he
said, "and people are not going to
realistically do that."
"ONE DOES not need to stop
having sex, one needs to engage in
safe sex," he said.
"I have not found people in the gay
community to be irresponsible," Phil
said, adding that "education has to be
done in the gay community in terms of
safe sex."
"Promiscuity is not the issue," Phil
said. "The challenge is public
education, and it's not being met."
AIDS is "forcing people to take
responsibility, not only for sex within
the gay community, but within the
non-gay community for forming a
rational response to the issue," Phil
continued.
"One person dying is reason enough
for this issue to be put on the table."
RHA offers
dating
service in
dormitories
(Continued from Page 1)
we haven't covered everywhere."
According to Beth Painter, RHA
president, "We were selling Monday
and Tuesday, and we'll see by the
response whether to extend it or not."
Peter Samet, one of the represen-
tatives selling the forms, said that he
had sold "about 50 so far in East
Quad, and I expect to sell 100 if we go
another day."
Concerning her, expectations for
this program, Painter said "I would
really like, ideally, to sell 1,000 and
that figure is conceivable, but we're
playing it by ear."
So, if you did not get a chance this
week to finish such sentences as:
"After college I'm . . .", "I think
money is.. .", and "I like a date who.
.. " you may get a second chance in
order to let a computer find you a
date.
right to new govt contracts
WASHINGTON - General Dynamics Corp. yesterday lost its right to
obtain new government contracts, one day after the firm and four former
or current executives, including NASA administrator James Beggs, were
indicted on fraud charges.
The contract suspension, announced by the Defense Department, is the
second such action imposed on the nation's third-largest defense contrac-
tor this year. The latest suspension applies not only to Pentagon contrac-
ts, but also to any other government work.
Meanwhile, a key congressman said Beggs plans to take a leave of ab-
sence as NASA administrator while he defends himself against the
charges.
"He is relinquishing his duties during the period in which the courts will
judge the charges made in the indictment," said Rep. Don Fuqua (D-
Fla.) chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, which
oversees NASA. Fuqua said he talked to Beggs yesterday afternoon and
that "he informed me of his decision to step aside."
McFarlane may resign
WASHINGTON -President Reagan's soft-spoken national security
advisor, Rober McFarlane, is said to have decided to quit at the zenith of
his career following the favorable reviews of Reagan's summit meeting
with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
"McFarlane has decided to leave for personal reasons only," one
congressional source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. "The
timing is the thing I don't know yet."
"No comment," said White House spokesman Edward Diereiian when
asked about published reports speculating about McFarlane's departure.
It was a response that served only to fuel mounting speculation that
McFarlane, whose resignation has been rumored on and off for weeks,
might actually be on the verge of leaving.
McFarlane's own spokeswoman on the National Security Council staff,
Karna Small, did not return telephone messages which were piling up on
her secretary's desk.
Aquino announces candidacy
MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES -Corazon Aquino, wife of slain op-
position leader Benigno Aquino, announced yesterday she will run again-
st President Ferdinand Marcos is an early presidential election set for
Feb. 7.
The announcement came as Armed Forces Chief Gen. Fabian Ver,
acquitted a day earlier of charges of complicity in the assasination of
Aquino's husband, began a high-level shakeup in the nation's military.
Bands of leftist youths roaming five areas of the city night burned tires
in the streets and set off firecrackers and homemade explosives to
protest the acquittal of Ver, 24 other soldiers and a civilian in the Aug. 21,
1983, murder of Aquino.
Aquino, 52, announced her presidential candidacy at a news conference
and offered the vice presidential spot on the opposition ticket to former.
Sen. Salvador Laurel, who was also considering running for president.
Israeli spies to be questioned
JERUSALEM -American authorities will question three Israelis
about their involvement with a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst accused of
spying for Israel, and the head of the espionage unit likely will be retired,
Israeli sources said yesterday.
The sources said the secret department that channeled information
allegedly supplied by Navy analyst Jonathon Pollard had ceased its clan-
destine activities, thus keeping Israel's public pledge to dismantle the
unit involved.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pollard, a 31-year-old American Jew, was arrested by the FBI on Nov.
21 and accused of selling military secrets to Israel for $50,000 over the
past 18 months. His wife, Anne Henderson-Pollard was arrested the next
day and charged with illegal possession of national defense documents.
The intelligence unit, led by former Mossad operations officer Rafael
Eytan, monitored U.S. scientific and technological research through
Israel's embassy and consulates in the United States, according to U.S.
newspaper reports. Mossad is an agency responsible for Israel's foreign
intelligence.
Tax program alive, says Dole
WASHINGTON -Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole said yesterday
he believes the president will not reject the House Ways and Means
Committee version of his tax program, but the White House said no
decision has been made.
"I think he wants to keep the process alive," Dole told reporters after
he and other Republican congressional leaders met with Reagan at the
White House.
"That's the message I received, which would indicate that he is not
going to reject the House Ways and Means package," Dole said.
A Republican alternative tax bill discussed at the White House would
lower the top individual tax rate to 37 percent, rather than 38 percent as in
the committee's bill. It also would cut the top corporate rate to 33 percent
by 1991, compared with 36 prescribed by the committee-approved plan.
Under the GOP plan, only 75 percent of state and local taxes paid by in-
dividuals could be claimed as deductions, compared with 100 percent un-
der the committee's formula.
Vol XCVI - No.63
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967 X) is published Monday through
Friday during the Fall and Winter terms. Subscription rates: September
through April - $18.00 in Ann Arbor; $35.00 outside the city. One term -
$10.00 in town; $20.00 out of town.
The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and Sub-
scribes to United Press International, Pacific News Service, Los Angeles
Times Syndicate, and College Press Service.
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Editor in Chief.................NEIL CHASE
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