Tag: txt

enoughtohold:

lightningthewarrior:

enoughtohold:

i don’t trust tumblr to handle HIV information, it rarely ends well

so, in the early 1980s, many hemophiliacs contracted HIV from Factor VIII, an injected blood product that helps the blood clot. because Factor VIII was made from the plasma of many different blood donors, and because hemophiliacs had to use it frequently, hemophiliacs were at much higher risk of HIV than other blood product recipients.

once this was understood, manufacturers made changes to make the product safe, including heat-treating the existing stock to kill the virus. but one manufacturer, Cutter Laboratories (owned by Bayer), “misrepresented
the results of its own research and sold the contaminated [product] to overseas markets
in Asia and Latin America without the precaution of heat treating the product recommended
for eliminating the risk. As a consequence, hemophiliacs who infused the
HIV-contaminated Factor VIII and IX tested positive for HIV and developed AIDS.” (another source)

with me so far?

well, there was a tumblr post about this with many thousands of notes, but because it didn’t explain it well, and because the company involved is Bayer which is best known for its aspirin, and because uninformed fear of HIV makes people panic and not think clearly, tons of people came away from the post thinking that the contaminated product was aspirin and that they should now fear that ordinary oral medicines will somehow give them HIV!

you CANNOT contract HIV from oral medication, or from food. i can’t believe i have to say this, but clearly i do. because as a society we’re at a level of low information and high stigma where we can’t even talk about a corporation knowingly exporting HIV without getting bogged down in urban-legend bullshit like this, and i hate it.

Tldr; Pharma giant bayer is selling a blood product with HIV

no, not “too long; didn’t read”! you should read! this happened in the 1980s; it is NOT currently happening.

and the point of this post is that when we treat HIV issues shallowly, people get the wrong idea and stoke unnecessary fear. so… like this right now. in our environment of low information and high stigma around HIV, this cannot and should not be reduced to a sound bite.