Taking Responsibility for AIDS

No one can reasonably deny that those of us who are HIV positive are obliged to act responsibly to prevent further transmission of the AIDS virus. Amitai Etzioni's view, however, is grossly wrongheaded ((Essay, Dec. 13)): for years the gay community has been taking concrete steps to educate people on how to prevent transmission of HIV. He utterly fails to address the irresponsibility of a society that neglects to educate its children adequately on AIDS ! prevention and relies on exhortations to abstinence rather than providing condoms, the most effective available means of prevention.

Michael A. James New York City

It is about time someone made sense of the deadly AIDS epidemic. If we look for a cure over many years while we fail to stem the epidemic, endless thousands more will die. The so-called public-health agencies have done far less to control the spread of HIV than has been done for other highly fatal, dangerous infections.

William B. Schafer, M.D. La Crescenta, California