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Condom Dispenser Plan Raises Eyebrows in D.C.

Aired December 03, 2003 - 15:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: An effort to fight AIDS in Washington, D.C. is raising some eyebrows. D.C. health officials plan to install condom dispensers in the public areas of government offices.
The head of the city's HIV/AIDS administration says the goal is to make them -- quote -- "as common as water fountains." But supporters of abstinence-based policies say the effort is misguided.

Ivan Torres is the city's interim director of the HIV/AIDS Administration. He is leading the condom-distribution effort.

Mr. Torres, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

Can you tell us the gist of this effort and this program?

IVAN TORRES, D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Absolutely.

What we're trying to do here is save lives. What we're trying to do is contain the epidemic in the District of Columbia. And it's nothing new. This condom initiative is just part of something, an initiative that we call abstinence-plus. And we start with abstinence. We tell the people, certainly, you should -- the safest way is to abstain from sexual contact.

But if you decide to have sexual contact, these are the options. And among the options are the condoms. But there are also other options, the group and the individual level interventions. What we're trying to do is give the options to the people and they will make the choice. So we as the government don't make the choice, but the person makes the choice. And what we're trying to do is good public health. We're public health professionals. We are not ideologues on one side of the spectrum or another.

COLLINS: But why government buildings?

TORRES: We're using mostly points of service. It's really points of service in government buildings.

For example, we think that we can reach you if you're going to a bar, if you're going to get your driver's license, if you're going to get your birth certificate, or if you're going to get anything else that you need from the government. You go to the privacy of a bathroom, men's and ladies' bathroom, and you look at the condom machine. It has some identification. And you can turn the knob if you choose to. If you don't choose to, you just walk away from the bathroom. It's in the privacy of the bathroom, high enough for children not to reach it. And only the person that turns the knob will know that the condom comes out. And they use it, if they feel they need to use it to protect themselves against STD, teenage pregnancy and HIV and AIDS.

COLLINS: And, Mr. Torres, we do want to take a moment to look at a study that came out talking about the D.C. area itself. We have some statistics breaking this down a little bit, this telling us that the highest U.S. AIDS rate are in Washington, D.C. You see 162.4 there, coming to us from the CDC.

But, at the same time, I want to read a quote to you, if I could, coming to us from the family issues researcher at the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector. He says -- quote -- "I'm not aware of any evidence that sort of activity has a positive effect. The No. 1 determinant of whether a person will catch a sexually transmitted disease is the number of lifetime sexual partners. We seem to go out of our way as a government and a nation to avoid people telling people that, but we hand out a lot of free condoms."

Your reaction?

TORRES: My reaction is that he's partially right.

Yes, absolutely, we would like to encourage behavior modification, limiting the number of sexual partners. We would like to encourage abstinence. We would also like to encourage the use of condoms for those that choose to have sexual relations. There is nothing -- absolutely, the figures that you bring out tells us that we have a problem here in Washington. We don't have available other methods that other cities have, for example, in the case of HIV infections through I.V. use, intravenous drug use.

COLLINS: Right.

TORRES: In New York, they had a reduction of 50 percent. We are forbidden to do it by Congress. So we have to do the resources, the most resources that we have available in order to bring down the epidemic. Other cities have them.

COLLINS: All day long, we have been taking some e-mail questions asking our viewers if they think this is a good idea or not. And I want to read a couple of them to you now.

TORRES: Sure.

COLLINS: And I'll ask you for your comment after the first two.

"Condoms in public places are brilliant. Awareness for the less aware is the way our society has lasted this long. I can't believe it's taken this long. Those who disagree are selfish and unaware of other aspects and problems in our society."

Another e-mail coming to us from Lou in Pennsylvania, saying: "If someone didn't care enough to buy a 50-cent condom to prevent the transmission of AIDS in the first place, I'm sure they wouldn't care enough to bother getting one for free. I just hope federal tax dollars are not being used for this program."

Your reaction to that?

TORRES: Actually, I don't think that people on the other side of the argument are ignorant or anything else. They just disagree with us in some areas, and we agree in many others.

And in terms of the availability, you would be surprised how many people actually take advantage of using the condoms. We gave away about 900 in a couple of clubs in just a couple of nights. And people were willing. Sometimes, we think that, while it's available, readily available, to some of us in society, it's readily available to everyone. No. And that's why part of our labor is embracing the CDC initiative, where we want to test people. We want to make available those methods that can keep them safe, away from HIV, STDs and teenage pregnancy, and embrace testing to find out whether they possibly will put them in good care, medical care.

COLLINS: Right, two more coming to us I just want to quickly get, in if we could.

"I do not believe condom dispensers in a public area are the answer. There will be such a lack of discretion that, eventually, the machines will just go to waste" -- that coming to us from Brooke.

And, finally, this one: "I think this is a great idea for the country. It will not be a cure, but it will bring the rate of HIV/AIDS way down in the" -- I believe that should say future -- coming to us from Dante.

Do you think that will really happen?

TORRES: I think it will really happen. And I understand Brooke's comments. But, at the same time, I would tell her that we are very, very aware of that possibility.

We're going to be very -- it's going to be a sustaining effort. It's not just something that we're going to put there and just leave it there. There are community-based organizations. Two of them, the Whitman-Walker Clinic and Us Helping Us here in Washington, that are assisting us in this process. They are full partners. And we are extremely gratified that we're going to maintain it.

This is a sustaining effort that, eventually, it will be done by the owners of these bars and these other places where we're going to be putting the condoms. They will be picking up the costs. And the costs are very minimal. I can tell you that, for one cent, you can get two condoms.

COLLINS: OK. All right, Ivan Torres, thank you so much for being our guest today. We appreciate your information to share.

TORRES: Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, Miss.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 3, 2003 - 15:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: An effort to fight AIDS in Washington, D.C. is raising some eyebrows. D.C. health officials plan to install condom dispensers in the public areas of government offices.
The head of the city's HIV/AIDS administration says the goal is to make them -- quote -- "as common as water fountains." But supporters of abstinence-based policies say the effort is misguided.

Ivan Torres is the city's interim director of the HIV/AIDS Administration. He is leading the condom-distribution effort.

Mr. Torres, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

Can you tell us the gist of this effort and this program?

IVAN TORRES, D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Absolutely.

What we're trying to do here is save lives. What we're trying to do is contain the epidemic in the District of Columbia. And it's nothing new. This condom initiative is just part of something, an initiative that we call abstinence-plus. And we start with abstinence. We tell the people, certainly, you should -- the safest way is to abstain from sexual contact.

But if you decide to have sexual contact, these are the options. And among the options are the condoms. But there are also other options, the group and the individual level interventions. What we're trying to do is give the options to the people and they will make the choice. So we as the government don't make the choice, but the person makes the choice. And what we're trying to do is good public health. We're public health professionals. We are not ideologues on one side of the spectrum or another.

COLLINS: But why government buildings?

TORRES: We're using mostly points of service. It's really points of service in government buildings.

For example, we think that we can reach you if you're going to a bar, if you're going to get your driver's license, if you're going to get your birth certificate, or if you're going to get anything else that you need from the government. You go to the privacy of a bathroom, men's and ladies' bathroom, and you look at the condom machine. It has some identification. And you can turn the knob if you choose to. If you don't choose to, you just walk away from the bathroom. It's in the privacy of the bathroom, high enough for children not to reach it. And only the person that turns the knob will know that the condom comes out. And they use it, if they feel they need to use it to protect themselves against STD, teenage pregnancy and HIV and AIDS.

COLLINS: And, Mr. Torres, we do want to take a moment to look at a study that came out talking about the D.C. area itself. We have some statistics breaking this down a little bit, this telling us that the highest U.S. AIDS rate are in Washington, D.C. You see 162.4 there, coming to us from the CDC.

But, at the same time, I want to read a quote to you, if I could, coming to us from the family issues researcher at the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector. He says -- quote -- "I'm not aware of any evidence that sort of activity has a positive effect. The No. 1 determinant of whether a person will catch a sexually transmitted disease is the number of lifetime sexual partners. We seem to go out of our way as a government and a nation to avoid people telling people that, but we hand out a lot of free condoms."

Your reaction?

TORRES: My reaction is that he's partially right.

Yes, absolutely, we would like to encourage behavior modification, limiting the number of sexual partners. We would like to encourage abstinence. We would also like to encourage the use of condoms for those that choose to have sexual relations. There is nothing -- absolutely, the figures that you bring out tells us that we have a problem here in Washington. We don't have available other methods that other cities have, for example, in the case of HIV infections through I.V. use, intravenous drug use.

COLLINS: Right.

TORRES: In New York, they had a reduction of 50 percent. We are forbidden to do it by Congress. So we have to do the resources, the most resources that we have available in order to bring down the epidemic. Other cities have them.

COLLINS: All day long, we have been taking some e-mail questions asking our viewers if they think this is a good idea or not. And I want to read a couple of them to you now.

TORRES: Sure.

COLLINS: And I'll ask you for your comment after the first two.

"Condoms in public places are brilliant. Awareness for the less aware is the way our society has lasted this long. I can't believe it's taken this long. Those who disagree are selfish and unaware of other aspects and problems in our society."

Another e-mail coming to us from Lou in Pennsylvania, saying: "If someone didn't care enough to buy a 50-cent condom to prevent the transmission of AIDS in the first place, I'm sure they wouldn't care enough to bother getting one for free. I just hope federal tax dollars are not being used for this program."

Your reaction to that?

TORRES: Actually, I don't think that people on the other side of the argument are ignorant or anything else. They just disagree with us in some areas, and we agree in many others.

And in terms of the availability, you would be surprised how many people actually take advantage of using the condoms. We gave away about 900 in a couple of clubs in just a couple of nights. And people were willing. Sometimes, we think that, while it's available, readily available, to some of us in society, it's readily available to everyone. No. And that's why part of our labor is embracing the CDC initiative, where we want to test people. We want to make available those methods that can keep them safe, away from HIV, STDs and teenage pregnancy, and embrace testing to find out whether they possibly will put them in good care, medical care.

COLLINS: Right, two more coming to us I just want to quickly get, in if we could.

"I do not believe condom dispensers in a public area are the answer. There will be such a lack of discretion that, eventually, the machines will just go to waste" -- that coming to us from Brooke.

And, finally, this one: "I think this is a great idea for the country. It will not be a cure, but it will bring the rate of HIV/AIDS way down in the" -- I believe that should say future -- coming to us from Dante.

Do you think that will really happen?

TORRES: I think it will really happen. And I understand Brooke's comments. But, at the same time, I would tell her that we are very, very aware of that possibility.

We're going to be very -- it's going to be a sustaining effort. It's not just something that we're going to put there and just leave it there. There are community-based organizations. Two of them, the Whitman-Walker Clinic and Us Helping Us here in Washington, that are assisting us in this process. They are full partners. And we are extremely gratified that we're going to maintain it.

This is a sustaining effort that, eventually, it will be done by the owners of these bars and these other places where we're going to be putting the condoms. They will be picking up the costs. And the costs are very minimal. I can tell you that, for one cent, you can get two condoms.

COLLINS: OK. All right, Ivan Torres, thank you so much for being our guest today. We appreciate your information to share.

TORRES: Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, Miss.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com