Torres Urges Use of Ads to Fight AIDS

State Sen. Art Torres on Friday called on state health officials to require Los Angeles County to spend $1 million in unused state AIDS funds immediately for an intensive advertising campaign aimed at educating minorities about the deadly disease.

The Los Angeles Democrat’s request was prompted by complaints from AIDS activists that up to $10 million of the $51.5 million allocated to fight the disease may go unspent this fiscal year, which ends June 30. In response to the complaints, Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) last week called for an audit of county AIDS programs.

“In the last year, the volume of AIDS cases in our state has risen by 77% in the black community, 53% in the Hispanic community and 18% among Asian Pacific Islanders,” Torres said in a letter to Kenneth Kizer, state health director. “Overall, minorities account for 22% of California adult and adolescent AIDS cases.”