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NEWS
Powell Urges Condom Use
By Peter Slevin and Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, 15 february 2002

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell strongly advocated condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS yesterday, setting himself apart from President Bush's views on sex education and angering some of the president's closest supporters on the political right.

"It is important that the whole international community come together, speak candidly about it, forget about taboos, forget about conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young people about," Powell told an MTV music channel audience. "It's the lives of young people that are put at risk by unsafe sex. And, therefore, protect yourself."

Powell's remarks, aired last night on MTV and scheduled for rebroadcast around the globe, are consistent with U.S. support of international AIDS prevention programs. But they appeared to diverge from the message delivered by the president and other administration officials that abstinence from unmarried sex is the principal weapon against the spread of the deadly human immunodeficiency virus.

The secretary of state's comments prompted a round of hisses and cheers. Ken Connor, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said Powell's remarks were "reckless and irresponsible" and a "slap in the face" to the president's core constituency.

Powell is "skilled in areas of diplomacy," said Gary Bauer, former Republican presidential candidate and president of American Values, but on "public health issues, he should follow the lead of the Bush administration, which he serves." Bauer said condoms give teenagers a false sense of security, a view shared by Tom Coburn, new chairman of Bush's advisory commission on AIDS.

But Marsha Martin, director of the liberal advocacy group AIDS Action, said of Powell, "We want to salute him and say, 'Bravo!' He is a member of the Bush administration, so I would say we are getting perhaps a new message and a welcome message about HIV prevention."

The president has remained elliptical in his public statements about condom use, instead touting abstinence as the preferred mode of prevention. Last summer, then-Surgeon General David Satcher drew the ire of White House officials with a detailed report on sexuality that said there is no evidence that abstinence-only teaching works.

At the time, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer distanced the administration from Satcher, noting that the surgeon general had been appointed by President Bill Clinton. Referring to Bush, Fleischer added: "The president continues to believe that abstinence and abstinence education is the most effective way to prevent AIDS, to prevent unwanted pregnancy."

As conservatives cranked up their fax machines to criticize Powell, administration spokesmen said Powell's message was consistent with existing White House policy. Fleischer yesterday drew a distinction between young people who have not had sex and others who have. Powell, he said, "limited his answer to people who are sexually active."

State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher drew the same distinction and said: "Any attempt to find difference between him and administration policy is obviously misplaced. He does support the entire policy of the administration, including abstinence education." The MTV broadcast featured Powell with a Washington studio audience and connected by satellite with young people in six television studios around the world. Powell, who had no advance warning of the questions, stood on a symbol of the globe and answered at length, discussing administration choices on subjects from Kashmir to al Qaeda and pitching a view of U.S. foreign policy as principled and humane.

One question came from 19-year-old Daniela Satori in Milan.
"As a young Catholic woman," she said in Italian through an interpreter, "I would like to know from the secretary of state what he thinks of the Catholic position on condoms, which are prohibited, and therefore this condemns anyone who might be exposed to this virus."

Powell talked of his respect for Pope John Paul II, and then of bitter numbers of AIDS victims worldwide. "I certainly respect the view of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church. In my own judgment, condoms are a way to prevent infection," he said. "Therefore, I not only support their use, I encourage their use among people who are sexually active and need to protect themselves."

To another question, Powell said the administration and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan are working together to persuade international drug companies to lower the prices of drug "cocktails" that have proven effective against HIV. He said drug companies deserve a return on their investment in experimental medicines.

"I would like to see it free, but as an economic matter, we haven't quite achieved that goal and I'm not sure we will," Powell told Rosa Maria Benitz, 28, a Brazilian who is HIV-positive. He praised her for standing up in public and talking about the disease.

The Bush administration does not have a unified policy on condoms and sexually transmitted diseases. Rather, health staffers characterize the strategy as a "continuum of tactics."

In this fiscal year, the administration is spending $12 billion on education, prevention, treatment and research related to HIV/AIDS, said Bill Pierce, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman. Almost $1 billion is distributed to the states for an array of educational programs that may include discussions of protected sex with condoms. Some foreign aid is also spent on condom distribution.

"Generically speaking, there are no restrictions regarding condoms," Pierce said. "The administration believes that abstinence education needs to be raised up to an equal level with all other types of health education." Some AIDS projects, including the Ryan White program, would not receive any increase under the proposed budget, but abstinence-only programs would grow 33 percent under the Bush blueprint to $135 million.