Study: Many Blacks Believe AIDS was Created by the Government
/More than 20 years after the
AIDS epidemic arrived in the United States, a significant proportion of
African Americans embrace the theory that government scientists created
the disease to control or wipe out their communities, according to a
study released today by Rand Corp. and Oregon State University. African
Americans represent 13 percent of the U.S. population, according to
Census Bureau figures, yet they account for 50 percent of new HIV
infections in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Nearly half of the 500 African Americans surveyed said
that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is man-made. The study, which was
supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, appears in the Feb. 1 edition of the Journal of Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndromes. More than one-quarter said they believed
that AIDS was produced in a government laboratory, and 12 percent
believed it was created and spread by the CIA. A slight majority said
they believe that a cure for AIDS is being withheld from the poor.
Forty-four percent said people who take the new medicines for HIV are
government guinea pigs, and 15 percent said AIDS is a form of genocide
against black people. The findings were also no surprise to Na'im
Akbar, a professor of psychology at Florida State University who
specializes in African American behavior. "This is not a bunch of crazy
people running around saying they're out to get us," Akbar said. The
belief "comes from the reality of 300 years of slavery and 100 years of
post-slavery exploitation." [more] and [more]
- Nobel Peace Prize Winner says AIDS was 'Made to Kill Blacks' - HIV Made in a Lab [more]
- AIDS: 'The Manufactured Virus' [more]
- Potential HIV/AIDS Vaccine Gets More Tests [more]
