Help us really stop the spread of Hepatitis C

Before lending that support to Hepatitis C Epidemic Act, HR 2552, we believe you should have an opportunity to consider our position as well.

HR 2552 does not address the needs of the Hepatitis C infected population but creates another funding source for the largest unaccountable, single disease program in our nation's history, HIV/AIDS.   

HIV/AIDS currently receives billions in federal funding to address the prevention, education, and treatment of 1 million US citizens infected with HIV/AIDS while pushing to expand the programs of HIV/AIDS globally and consuming diseases such as viral hepatitis, along the way.   

HR 2552 focus is on only on perceived “high risk” populations; IV drug abusers, MSM, and the sex trades. These are the same populations currently served through the HIV/AIDS programs.

If these programs are not effective in slowing all bloodborne infections through their message, than the problem lies in the lack of accountability and oversight.  Adding another disease emphasis and funding will not solve this problem.  Instead it creates a de-emphasis on a declared epidemic, Hepatitis C; spreading 10 times faster than HIV/AIDS and infecting 5 times more Americans.

Hepatitis C Epidemic Act, HR 2552 excludes:

1. The general population in which infections occurred through transfusions blood products, organ and tissue transplants, medical procedures, tattoo body piercing, employment and ways we have yet to determine. 
    
2. The veteran population infected through medical procedures, infected blood products and unsterilized mass vaccination sessions that included reusable needles, vials and jet injection systems.
    
3. The foreign born population is at high risk from blood products and unsterilized medical procedures performed in their countries of origin. 

Hepatitis C Epidemic Act, HR 2552 promotes discrimination by focusing all funding on “high risk” populations while skipping the largest infected population, those really “at risk”.

Organizations who support HR 2552 in the name of advocacy, should be looked at closely for their composition.  They comprise HIV/AIDS groups, pharmaceutical companies, and a splattering of STD and Immunization programs, with a stake in promoting these limited modes of transmission and "high risk" population as a means of addressing the epidemic.
http://www.nastad.org/Docs/Public/InFocus/200758_2006AR_final.pdf
  
Please read Senator Tom Coburn, MD, government oversight investigational report. The Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) is under investigation for inefficiency and ineffective leadership.  The report details how CDC "Reorganization" has really meant privatizing an agency established to protect public's interest. Unless things change drastically within the HIV/AIDS industry, our fate is at best in parallel if this legislation passes, as accountability for funding and political verses scientifically based decisions have gone so far as to deceive the public.  
http://march-on-dc.com/CDC/index.html

Click here to sign on to our letter of objection to the Hepatitis C Epidemic Act, HR 2552. We believe once congress sees through this attempt to fund HIV/AIDS we can begin to address the needs of the Hepatitis C infected population with accountability and oversight as key components of any Hepatitis C legislation.  We do not want a repeat the mistakes of HIV/AIDS programs!

If we fail, Hep C funding is absorbed into a "confusing and misleading" public heath campaign that will not notify those most at risk, and certainly will not stop the spread of this virus.

Please help make Public Health "DO ITS JOB" as two Surgeon Generals
have asked!! Address the general public through unbiased
"General Awareness Campaigns"

Don't let Hep C get lost in the mix of
CDC's "EASY FIX" solutions for real pandemics.

ACT NOW
Click Here
Stop the Hepatitis C Epidemic Act HR2552

Need more information? Contact us-
Hepatitis C Movement for Awareness HMAwareness@aol.com
National Hepatitis C Institute candelarianhci@hotmail.com 
HCVets.com HCVets@aol.com