Judge Upholds County’s Ban on Sale, Use of ‘Poppers’ Chemicals

A judge refused Thursday to throw out a Los Angeles County ordinance banning the sale and use of alkyl nitrites, chemicals widely regarded as aphrodisiacs that county health officials have linked to the development of AIDS.

Superior Court Judge Warren Deering, calling it “a close and difficult question,” ruled that the county has authority to regulate the sale and use of the chemicals, popularly known as “poppers,” as part of its responsibility for protecting public health.

A Los Angeles company that manufactures and distributes alkyl nitrates as room deodorizers challenged the ordinance, claiming that a new state law requiring warning signs on sales counters about potential health risks associated with the chemicals precludes counties from adopting any additional regulations.

But county health officials countered that the severity of the problem in Los Angeles, where 2,360 acquired immune deficiency syndrome cases have been reported, requires local health officials to take strong action.

“In this county, where AIDS is posing a health crisis of major proportions, in my opinion it would be irresponsible to not take every step possible to prevent the use of these substances which may already have been responsible for numerous AIDS fatalities,” Shirley Fannin, deputy director of the county’s communicable disease control program, said in a sworn declaration filed with the court.

The ban, which applies countywide except in the cities of Pasadena and Long Beach, has been in effect since mid-November but has not been actively enforced pending resolution of the suit.

The county submitted independent research studies that appear to show that people already exposed to the AIDS virus may be more likely to develop Kaposi’s sarcoma, one of the primary diseases of the AIDS condition, if they have a history of using alkyl nitrites.

Sold under such trade names as Locker Room, Aroma of Man, Bullet and Heart On, alkyl nitrites have been widely used in the gay community as a stimulant.

According to figures compiled by the county in October, 33% of the male homosexuals who had been exposed to the AIDS virus had contracted Kaposi’s sarcoma, compared to 5% of non-homosexuals exposed to the virus. Those figures lend additional credence to the belief that alkyl nitrites are a “co-factor” in the development of AIDS, Fannin said.

But Frederic S. Wieder, representing manufacturer Lamar Stallings, said most of the past studies have involved laboratory animals, while the first study of human subjects, being undertaken by the New York Blood Center, is expected to show that alkyl nitrites are not related to the development of AIDS.

Wieder said alkyl nitrites manufacturers are unfairly being penalized by county officials who cannot be sure of potential health risks. An appeal of Deering’s decision is possible, he said.

Bans on poppers have been adopted in nearly a dozen states, including New York, which has also been hard-hit by AIDS.