Trump Administration Stopped HIV Cure Research
The Trump administration knocked out a double whammy with a recent executive order.
Scientists have received word from the Department of Health and Human Services that they are to stop all research into a cure for HIV.
Specifically, the Trump administration is looking to gain favor with conservative voters and politicians by knocking two birds with one stone.
The first bird is ending research and tests done on aborted fetal tissue. The idea is to stop all research being conducted on fetal tissues so that conservative voters can applaud Trump. The thing is, it’s not like researchers were going out and killing babies to conduct tests. Researchers were using fetal tissue from already conducted abortions.
In discontinuing all research conducted with fetal tissue, the Trump administration also knocks out the second bird. Namely, research into a cure for HIV. Since several studies and tests for an HIV cure involved fetal tissues, the Trump administration also gets a shot in at the LGBTQ community.
More: British Lawmaker Reveals He’s HIV Positive
“A ‘pause’ on research that uses aborted fetal tissue, something Christian conservatives strongly oppose, was announced by the Trump administration this past September. The move will affect numerous biomedical research programs.”
“Congressional Republicans have tried to ban all fetal tissue research for years to appease the religious right. 85 Republican House members wrote a letter to the head of the FDA asking for a ban on fetal tissue research shortly before the ‘pause’ was announced.”
As Cocktails and Cock Talk points out, this government forced banning will ultimately push back the progress of HIV research.
“If we were given the green light right now, it would probably take us a year to get back in the position we were in when the ban was put in place,” wrote one scientist.
With World AIDs Day and Former President George H.W. Bush’s funeral only just a few weeks past, it looks like Trump has learned nothing from the past.
