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Health care

2015-01-24T12:30:00.66-05:00

US Leadership and the AIDS Epidemic in Africa

2003-11-19T05:15:12-05:00

The end of the Cold War ushered in a new era in American Foreign Policy. With the United States coming out as the dominant world power some predicted that the world was heading for a new age of peace, an “integrated international system based on the principles of liberal democracy and free markets” (Brower and Chalk 1). The United States’ victory proved that these were the best models for government and general social structure. Yet, the past decade has been filled with a growing sense of unease and the insurgence of non-traditional challenges. The threats may not be as imminent as possible mutual nuclear destruction, but they are vast and varied. In some ways, the world we live in now is more dangerous than that of the relatively monotonous Cold War years. There is no longer one major clear threat, no obvious division between good guy and bad guy. The majority of the current threats facing the United States are nebulous in nature with a common thread of transnationalism running through them. This includes the drug trade, environmental degradation, terrorism, and the spread of disease. None of these problems have a “return address,” and none of them can be traced back to a single people or nation. These are “threats without enemies” (Abshire 42). AIDS is such a threat. By the year 2011, the disease is expected to have killed over 80 million people worldwide (Brower and Chalk 7). Without doubt, Africa has been the hardest hit by the AIDS virus. The continental average is now 8.6 percent as opposed to 1.1 percent worldwide (Morrison 198). The impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa’s security and stability has been and continues to be substantial. Not only has the disease led to large-scale human death and suffering, but it has also undermined social and economic stability, weakened military preparedness and contributed to crime (Brower and Chalk 42). Without strong US leadership and multilateral international cooperation the AIDS epidemic in Africa will grow to monstrous proportions, severally turning back the tide of development in dozens of countries. The virus is so pervasive in South Africa that statisticians at the University of Cape Town project South African life expectancy at birth to fall to 40 years by 2010, down from 60 years in 1997 (Brower and Chalk 43). According to the Department of Health, by 2005 nearly one million South African children under the age of

AIDS report

2002-06-08T14:00:00-04:00

What is AIDS?

AIDS is the more evolved, life threatening, form of HIV. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The name comes from the fact that HIV severely damages the immune system, the body’s most important defense against disease.

History of AIDS

Scientists are not certain how, when, or where the AIDS virus evolved and first infected people. Researchers have shown that HIV-1 and HIV-2 are more closely related to simian immunodeficiency viruses, which infect monkeys, than to each other. Thus, it has been suggested that HIV evolved from viruses that originally infected monkeys in Africa and was somehow transmitted to people. Scientists believe HIV infection became widespread after significant social changes took place in Africa during the 1960's and 1970's. Large numbers of people moved from rural areas to cities, resulting in crowding, unemployment, and prostitution. These conditions brought about an increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. HIV may have been introduced into industrialized nations several times before transmission was sustained and became widespread. AIDS was first identified as a "new" disease by physicians in Los Angeles and New York City in 1980 and 1981. The doctors recognized the condition as something new because all the patients were previously healthy, young homosexual men suffering from otherwise rare forms of cancer and pneumonia. The name AIDS was adopted in 1982. Scientists soon determined that AIDS occurred when the immune system became damaged, and that the agent that caused the damage was spread through sexual contact, shared drug needles, and infected blood transfusions. After HIV was isolated as the cause of AIDS in 1983 and 1984, researchers developed tests to detect HIV infection. These tests have also been used to analyze stored tissues from several people who died from the late 1950's and 1970's. Scientists have concluded that some of these people died from AIDS. Cases of HIV infection reported worldwide have risen dramatically since the early 1980's. During the early 1990's, an estimated 1 million people in the United States and millions more throughout the world had HIV infection or AIDS. Efforts to control the spread of AIDS have had some success. For example, among homosexual men in the United States, HIV infection is spreading more slowly than it did in the early 1980's. This is due entirely to education about prevention and the resulting changes in sexual behavior, such as decreased numbers of sexual partners and increased

The Effects of AIDS on South African Sport

2001-02-28T13:00:00-05:00

Mr President, Mrs Hummel, Mrs Green, Ladies and Gentlemen By 2010 one in every two 15 year old South Africans will be HIV positive… An alarming fact, which will have devastating impacts on all aspects of South African life. The statistics for HIV in SA, no matter how they are presented are frightening. Currently in SA 4,2 Million people are HIV positive, that is a tenth of our population, more than any other country in the world. As AIDS is a very contentious issue at the moment in our country. I am sure you have all heard plenty on the topic of AIDS. So I am focusing my speech this evening on a different aspect on AIDS, but one that is very important, that of the effects of AIDS on Sport in South Africa, now and in the future We are a country very passionate about sport, and AIDS will greatly effect our sport, and will raise many a question, such as, What are the risks of blood-to-blood contraction? Are our Sporting first aid facilities adequate? And what actions have and will be taken by Sporting governing bodies such as SARFU? 2000 was a bad year for sport in SA in general, The Hansie Cronje scandal, a failed world cup soccer bid, disappointing Springbok performances, the sacking of Nick Mallet and to cap it all off, A Gold-less Sydney Olympic Games. Can you imagine in 10 years time, when only half our 15 year olds can play sport… imagine a half strength springbok team taking on the might of an all black side, or a half strength cricket team, battling it out at the world cup, with the likes of Australia. At the moment SA is one of the superpowers of African and World sport, containing many key components to ensure lasting successes on the sports fields of the world. Our population is large and diverse enough to ensure large numbers of elite sportsmen and women proceed through the ranks, to superstar status. Our wonderful climate allows for all-year round participation. All these ingredients have allowed SA to achieve sporting excellence, and the potential for even greater things is huge. Yet the threat posed by AIDS is a formidable obstacle in the development of SA sport and will surely hinder the progress. It is estimated that by 2010, the life expectancy of South Africans will have dropped to a mere 40 years. This not only means less

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)

2001-02-27T13:00:00-05:00

STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) are diseases that are transmitted through sexual intercourse with another domestic partner. Usually STD’s are transmitted through oral, anal, vaginal, or other sexually active bodily contact. Sexually Transmitted Diseases are 100% avoidable. There are many techniques, but the most effective way is to have sexual intercourse with only one partner in your whole life, making sure that your partner didn’t have sexual involvements with anyone else. Another method is a condom. A condom fits over the male erect penis, to protect both partners of any diseases that may possibly exist. It is also vital to buy the right kind of condom. Some condoms are porous, which means bacteria can travel through the holes as well as sperm. A good condom would be one with a small latex tip to avoid breaking of the condom. Overall, latex condoms are good ways to prevent STD’s and pregnancy, but they do break, so its not 100% guaranteed to prevent pregnancy or disease. There are many methods out there, but the most effective method is to have sexual intercourse with one partner. Who thought that sex would be easy? It’s not. Nowadays we have tons of diseases, which are fatal. Only some of them are curable, and some can be slowed down. But all of them can be prevented. The most common sexually transmitted diseases are: Chlamidia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Herpes(Simplex II), NGU(Nongonicoccal Urethritis), Vaginitis, Genital Warts, Pubic Lice/Scabies, AIDS, and Hepatitis. Chlamidia is a disease, which is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse. If you had this disease, you would experience bleeding between menstrual periods, abdominal pain, and painful urination. There is another term for painful urination. It is called “urinary tract infection”. This group includes Cystititis or Urethritis caused by Gonorrhea or Chlamidia. Fortunately, this disease can be treated unlike many STDs. Actually treatment of Chlamidia is quite simple. Some antibiotics, doxycycline, tetracycline, or zithromax will cure the problem within a week – a month. If this disease is not handled, urination will be more complicated due to the enlargement of the prostate gland in a male, your reproductive organs will malfunction and get damaged, and this disease can be transmitted to the fetus when a woman is pregnant. Gonorrhea is usually the cause of heart trouble and abdominal problems. It is a treatable disease, which takes some time. Usually daily doses of antibiotics will cure this problem. This disease

New Way to Spend a Holiday

2001-02-13T13:00:00-05:00

An experience in life that forces you to grow up and to take on responsibility, can only be rewarding and uplifting in the future. When you look back at all you came thru and the courage that possesed you at that most trying time. I only have one moment that really sticks out in my mind. Christmas on 1997 my family and I went to The Banquet which is a local food provider for the less fortunate in Sioux Falls. Being thrilled about this certain project my mom decided we should do was not quiet my attitude. I didn't want to spend Christmas in a dusty old high school serving food to people. Why could we just be normal and stay home with family. But despite all my protest it was set and we were going. For volunteers your day starts rather early we were to report to Thomas Jefferson Middle school by 10:00 A.M. sharp. As the thoughts ran thru my mind of what to expect when we got there. I started to make up the crazy ideas that we would get there and all around us would be these drugged out, filthy, and uncivilized people. People who choose not to try or to make a difference with there lives. People who were happy taking handouts and living on the street not wanting to change anything. We pulled up into the parking lot and the first thing i saw was 3 other guys my age. Not all that bad looking either. So I'm beginning to think maybe the day won't be so bad after all. A tall, broad, and boisterous woman walked up and introduced herself to my family and told us how happy she was to have us here. I quickly began to feel a little more at ease when i saw the rest of the volunteers. We walked into the building and into the gym. My mouth dropped there must have been 50 long cafeteria tables in their if not more. We quickly were each given a different set of jobs to do. My mom helped with the decorating of the tables. My little brother well I'm not sure exactly what he did but there was a lot of hammering. I went with two other ladies onto the stage of the gym where there were hundreds and hundreds of toys. Our job was to sort them out into gender

AIDS: Epidemic of the Decade

2000-12-09T13:00:00-05:00

INTRODUCTION There is no doubt that AIDS is indeed the epidemic of the decade. Not only are there many supporting facts and data, visiting urban cities and third world countries prove this point. Furthermore, AIDS is not only highly infectious, it is also the first major incurable epidemic throughout this biomedical revolution that mankind is going through. This epidemic might actually be the one that will completely wipeout the third world. Scientists, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to find a cure to this epidemic but in the mean time we have to find a way to deal with it, if possible. As we continue into the next millennium with all sorts of problems facing humanity, the choice with regard to AIDS is simple, evolve or die! INFECTIVITY The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has two different types of strains. HIV-1 is the North American strain while HIV-2 is the African strain. The only real difference between the two is that HIV-2 has the vpx gene while HIV-1 does not. As you can tell by the name, the virus works by gradually deteriorating the immune system. The virus can infect any cell with CD4 molecules on the cell’s membrane. It seems to specifically destroy or disable the CD4+ T cells. These cells are sometimes called "T helper" cells. They work by signalling other cells to perform their special functions. A normal healthy person usually has a CD4+ T cell count of 800 to 1,200 per cubic millimetre of blood. Once a person’s CD4+ T cell count falls below 200/mm3, a person is diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A person diagnosed with AIDS will usually die of an opportunistic infection, not of HIV/AIDS itself. HIV is a virus and a virus is basically a microscopic bag of protein filled with a strain of DNA or RNA. To be more specific, HIV has a diameter of approximately 1/10,000 of a millimetre and is spherical in shape (see Figure 1-1). The viral envelope consists of two layers of lipid molecules and contains proteins taken from the host cell. There are 72 copies (on average) of a complex HIV protein called Env. Env is made of three or four molecules of a glycoprotein, gp120, that form a cap and a stem consisting of gp41 molecules that anchor the structure to the surface of the viral envelope. HIV belongs to the class of viruses known as retroviruses. HIV

HIV: The Search For A Vaccine

2000-11-19T13:00:00-05:00

In 1985, over 10,000 cases of AIDS were reported worldwide (White and Fenner 1986). Just over a decade later, in 1998, the Global AIDS Policy Coalition estimated that 30.6 million people were infected with HIV worldwide. It has also been projected that by the year 2000, between 40 and 70 million adults will be infected with HIV (New Generation Vaccines 1997). Over 90% of all HIV-1 infected individuals live in developing nations: 50% in Southeast Asia and 40% in sub-Saharan Africa. However, even with all of these alarming statistics and projections, there is hope for the future of humanity. This hope is a potential anti-AIDS vaccine. An anti-AIDS vaccine is the best bet. Among other factors, the large costs associated with therapeutic drugs do not allow many AIDS patients receive them. This is especially true in the developing nations, constituting over 90% of all HIV infections worldwide (Bloom 1995). Before discussing the development of a potential vaccine, it is imperative to briefly discuss characteristics of HIV itself and also the immune system that these vaccines would target. HIV, a retrovirus from the Lentivirus subfamily, contains ssRNA nucleic acid. Some of its other characteristics include: an icosahedron capsid, various enzymes (including reverse transcriptase), and envelope with the glycoproteins gp 120, gp 41, and gp160. The genes of HIV-1 can be placed into 3 general categories: structural, regulatory, and accessory genes. The structural genes include gag, pol, and env. The regulatory genes include tat and rev. The accessory genes are nef, vpr, vpu, and vif (Vaccines 1999). There are two major branches to the immune system in primates: a humoral or adaptive branch and a cell-mediated or innate branch. The cell-mediated immune response operates through MHC I via CD8+ (cytotoxic T cells). Antibodies are not secreted through this branch of the immune system, and the cell-mediated immune response generally targets viruses and other intracellular antigens. The humoral immune response operates through MHC II via CD4+ (helper T cells). The humoral branch secretes antibodies, which generally target extracellular antigens like bacteria and fungi. There are many obstacles in the way of HIV vaccine development. First, since HIV often mutates its surface glycoprotein (gp120), it has many strains, and the immune response cannot target all of the possible strains. The genetic diversity among HIV-1 strains is also do to an error-prone reverse transcriptase enzyme, as well as recombination. The second obstacle is the lack of an inexpensive,

The Nature, Transmission, Prevention, and Treatment of the HIV/AIDS

2000-05-17T14:00:00-04:00

Arthur Ashe is an admirable and well known American tennis player who won many championships. He became the first African American male to win the men’s Wimbledon title in 1975. Also, he was on the United States Davis Cup team from 1963 until 1984. Some of his other major accomplishments include helping to form what is now the Association of Tennis Professionals and winning the Australian Open, the United States Open, and the French Open. Ashe lived a wonderful and successful life: however, in 1983, disaster struck! Ashe acquired an incurable disease through a tainted blood transfusion. This disease killed him in 1993. What is this incurable disease that still haunts the lives of so many people? This is a disease known as AIDS. AIDS is a fatal disease without a cure and a disease that responds to little treatment. How can the spread of AIDS be stopped? This paper will discuss the nature of the AIDS virus, the transmission and the prevention of transmission, as well as the available treatments for people with this disease. First of all, AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is acquired which means that it is not passed down from generation to generation through a person’s genes. AIDS is a disease that attacks the immune system, a system in the body that produces white blood cells in order to fight off diseases. This disease causes the immune system to be deficient, or weakened, so that it cannot properly fight off diseases. AIDS is a syndrome, or a group of illnesses with many possible symptoms that can occur together in a weakened condition. AIDS is a pandemic, meaning that it can be found on all continents. The disease was discovered in 1983, by a French cancer specialist, Luc Montagnier, along with other scientists, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. However, there were AIDS cases reported as early as the 1950’s. "The 80s will go down as the decade that AIDS began. We want to know, - Why" (Bevan 27)? One of the reasons is the promiscuity of sexually active people during the 1980s and the sharing of intravenous hypodermic needles and syringes by drug users. Secondly, AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. This virus attacks the antibodies in a person’s immune system, thereby disabling that system. HIV works in an unusual way because it uses the immune system

AIDS

1999-11-18T13:00:00-05:00

"Somewhere among the million children who go to New York's publicly financed schools is a seven-year-old child suffering from AIDS. A special health and education panel had decided, on the strength of the guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control, that the child would be no danger to his classmates. Yet, when the school year started on September 9th, several thousand parents in two school districts in the borough of Queens kept their children at home. Fear of plague can be as pernicious, and contagious, as the plague itself(Fear of dying 1)." This article was written in 1985. Since then much has been found out about AIDS. Not enough for a cure though. There probably will be no cure found in the near future because the technology needed is not available. AIDS cases were first identified in 1981,in the United States. Researchers have traced cases back to 1959. There are millions of diagnosed cases worldwide, but there is no cure(Drotman 163). There are about a million people in the United States who are currently infected with HIV(HIV/AIDS 1). It infects the population heavily in some areas of the country and very lightly in other areas. No race, sex, social class, or age is immune(AIDS Understanding 10). AIDS has killed more americans than the Vietnam War, which killed 58,000(AIDS Understanding 10). AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Acquired means that it is not hereditary or introduced by medication. Immune indicates that it is related to the body's system that fights off disease. Deficiency represents the lack of certain kinds of cells that are normally found in the body. Syndrome is a group of symptoms and signs of disordered function that signal the diagnoses(Hyde 1). You don't catch AIDS, you catch HIV. HIV is the virus that leads to AIDS. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency virus. HIV severely damages a person's disease fighting immune system. There are two viruses that cause AIDS. They belong to a group called retroviruses. The first virus is HIV-1. It was isolated by researchers in France in 1983, and in the U.S. in 1984. In 1985, the second one was identified by scientists in France. It is closely related to HIV-1. It is called HIV-2. HIV-2 mainly occurs in Africa but HIV-1 occurs throughout the world(Drotman 163). There are three stages of the infection. The first stage is acute retroviral syndrome and asymptomatic period. This is the

AIDS - What's new

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

Is the message getting through? We already know enough about AIDS to prevent its spread, but ignorance, complacency, fear and bigotry continue to stop many from taking adequate precautions. We know enough about how the infection is transmitted to protect ourselves from it without resorting to such extremes as mandatory testing, enforced quarantine or total celibacy. But too few people are heeding the AIDS message. Perhaps many simply don't like or want to believe what they hear, preferring to think that AIDS "can't happen to them." Experts repeatedly remind us that infective agents do not discriminate, but can infect any and everyone. Like other communicable diseases, AIDS can strike anyone. It is not necessarily confined to a few high-risk groups. We must all protect ourselves from this infection and teach our children about it in time to take effective precautions. Given the right measures, no one need get AIDS. The pandemic continues: Many of us have forgotten about the virulence of widespread epidemics, such as the 1917/18 influenza pandemic which killed over 21 million people, including 50,000 Canadians. Having been lulled into false security by modern antibiotics and vaccines about our ability to conquer infections, the Western world was ill prepared to cope with the advent of AIDS in 1981. (Retro- spective studies now put the first reported U.S. case of AIDS as far back as 1968.) The arrival of a new and lethal virus caught us off guard. Research suggests that the agent responsible for AIDS probably dates from the 1950s, with a chance infection of humans by a modified Simian virus found in African green monkeys. Whatever its origins, scientists surmise that the disease spread from Africa to the Caribbean and Europe, then to the U.S. Current estimates are that 1.5 to 2 million Americans are now probably HIV carriers, with higher numbers in Central Africa and parts of the Caribbean. Recapping AIDS - the facts: AIDS is an insidious, often fatal but less contagious disease than measles, chicken pox or hepatitis B. AIDS is thought to be caused primarily by a virus that invades white blood cells (lymphocytes) - especially T4-lymphocytes or T-helper cells - and certain other body cells, including the brain. In 1983 and 1984, French and U.S. researchers independently identified the virus believed to cause AIDS as an unusual type of slow-acting retrovirus now called "human immunodeficiency virus" or HIV. Like other viruses, HIV is basically a tiny package

Criminalization of Knowlingly Transmitting AIDS

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

Brief History of AIDS and the Criminalization of Knowingly Transmitting It Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The virus was discoverd independently in France in 1983 and in the United States in 1984. In the United States, it was initially identified in 1981. In 1986, a second virus, now called HIV-2, was also discovered in Africa. HIV-2 also causes AIDS. AIDS is transmitted in three ways: From sexual contact without protection, from the mixing of ones blood with infected blood, and from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection can occur from blood transfusions of infected blood, or sharing 'dirty' needles. (Needles already used, in this case, by a HIV positive person.) The criminalization of intentionally spreading AIDS has been a big issue recently, and still remains so. As of September, 1991, legislation criminalizing AIDS transmission has been passed in 24 states. Among these states are California, Idaho, Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, and South Carolina. Under these current laws, it is a crime to knowingly transmit the virus through sex, sharing needles, donating infected blood, organs, or skin tissue. The first person to go to court under these laws in Michigan was Jeffrey Hanlon. Hanlon was a gay man who infected another man from Michigan while he was in New York. The American Civil Liberties Union, who agreed to take the case, agrued that the AIDS disclosure law is unconstitutional. Privacy of those with AIDS is what they were worried about. Opponents argued that "they're [those with AIDS] killing people. It's like rape." The maximum sentence Hanlon could have recieved was four years in prison and a $2000 fine. In addition, under the current New York State law, which dates back well before June, 1987, the knowing transmission of a venerial disease is a felony. However, at that time, and currently, AIDS was not classified as a venerial disease. Interviews Concerning the Issue Most people believe that the willful transmission of AIDS to others it virtually murder. I have interviewed **name** and **name**. Both of them feel that intentionally passing AIDS on to another person is murder. The recipient of the virus will, in almost every case, die rather quickly of an AIDS related disease. **name** feels that "if someone knowingly transmits AIDS to another person, it's like committing murder. He or she should be punished to the full extent of the law." In addition to personal interviews, I have found the

AIDS: A US Made Monster?

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

PREFACE In an extensive article in the Summer-Autumn 1990 issue of "Top Secret", Prof J. Segal and Dr. L. Segal outline their theory that AIDS is a man-made disease, originating at Pentagon bacteriological warfare labs at Fort Detrick, Maryland. "Top Secret" is the international edition of the German magazine Geheim and is considered by many to be a sister publication to the American Covert Action Information Bulletin (CAIB). In fact, Top Secret carries the Naming Names column, which CAIB is prevented from doing by the American government, and which names CIA agents in different locations in the world. The article, named "AIDS: US-Made Monster" and subtitled "AIDS - its Nature and its Origins," is lengthy, has a lot of professional terminology and is dotted with footnotes. AIDS FACTS "The fatal weakening of the immune system which has given AIDS its name (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome)," write the Segals, "has been traced back to a destruction or a functional failure of the T4-lymphocytes, also called 'helper cells', which play a regulatory role in the production of antibodies in the immune system." In the course of the illness, the number of functional T4- cells is reduced greatly so that new anti-bodies cannot be produced and the defenceless patient remains exposed to a range of infections that under other circumstances would have been harmless. Most AIDS patients die from opportunistic infections rather than from the AIDS virus itself. The initial infection is characterized by diarrhea, erysipelas and intermittent fever. An apparent recovery follows after 2-3 weeks, and in many cases the patient remains without symptoms and functions normally for years. Occasionally a swelling of the lymph glands, which does not affect the patient's well-being, can be observed. After several years, the pre-AIDS stage, known as ARC (Aids- Related Complex) sets in. This stage includes disorders in the digestive tract, kidneys and lungs. In most cases it develops into full-blown AIDS in about a year, at which point opportunistic illnesses occur. Parallel to this syndrome, disorders in various organ systems occur, the most severe in the brain, the symptoms of which range from motoric disorders to severe dementia and death. This set of symptoms, say the Segals, is identical in every detail with the Visna sickness which occurs in sheep, mainly in Iceland. (Visna means tiredness in Icelandic). However, the visna virus is not pathogenic for human beings. The Segals note that despite the fact that AIDS is

Aids Conspricay - Is AIDS Biological Warfare?

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

The following is a complete verbatim transcription from a recent broadcast of "Network 23", a program shown on a local Los Angeles Public Access Cable Channel. Good evening, I'm Michel Kassett. This is Network 23. A couple of weeks ago we had a program on the subject of AIDS, addressing the question of whether AIDS-the AIDS virus-was created by the government; and I'm sure that some people were quite shocked by what they heard. We spent that entire program relating to you the evidence of a very substantial amount of factual evidence which supports the proposition that AIDS is a synthetic biological agent that was deliberately engineered by the US government as an instrument of depopulation. This is by far the most controversial and dangerous subject that we have ever addressed on this program, so I would like to review briefly the major points-the most significant pieces of evidence-that I presented two weeks ago. The first point was that in the early 1970's, Henry Kissinger wrote a top secret document-a National Security Memorandum ("NSM 200") -- in which he indicated that "depopulation should be the highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World." This Memorandum which can be obtained from the US National Archives, which was only declassified very quietly in 1990, was adopted by the National Security Council as official US foreign policy towards the Third World. Now, this is a classic example of the "secret government" in action, because of none of this was known to the Congress, and certainly, it was not known to the American people. Did any of you know that depopulation was considered a matter of US national security? Did any of you know that for the past 20 years, depopulation has been the highest long-range priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World? No you didn't, because it was classified-it was a secret. I would like to read for you just a piece of this document. It is written by Henry Kissinger: "Reduction of the rate of population in these States is a matter of vital US national security." [National Security Memorandum, Henry Kissinger] And we even have a map of those areas in which Kissinger indicates where depopulation would be desireable. It's all Third World countries- it's all brown people and yellow people, of course. "The US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries. That fact gives