HIV/AIDS drug ads blamed for unsafe sex

17 April 2001

The US Food and Drug Administration has said it will investigateadvertising for HIV/AIDS treatments, following claims by health officials in San Francisco that the ads may be encouraging unsafe sexual practices.

Preliminary data from 422 participants in a survey now underway at the San Francisco Department of Public Health show "compelling evidence" that the ads "influence individuals' perceptions of HIV disease and that they "adversely affect men's sexual lives," said Jeffrey Klausner, the Department's director of prevention and control services for sexually transmitted diseases, in testimony before a meeting of the city's Board of Supervisors, reports Reuters.

The Board is considering imposing a ban on "sexy" ads for HIV/AIDS drugs on city property, as a result of concerns that the ads trivialize the disease (Marketletter March 26). If the proposal goes through, San Francisco would become the first US city to impose such a ban.

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