President Bush on AIDS
It looks like education isn’t just for kids anymore. It’s also for Presidents (“Bush Defends AIDS Budget, Urges ‘Behavioral Change,’ ” Sept. 3). President Bush states, “Here’s a disease where you can control its spread by your own personal behavior. You can’t do that in cancer.”
President Bush, please understand without disrespect that many cancers could be prevented by not using tobacco. Think please of all the skin cancers, including the deadly melanoma, that could be prevented by use of sun screen and by not abusing the rays from sun or salon to achieve cosmetically pleasing tans.
Modification of disease and its prevention by personal behavior are not limited to cancer. Think of all the cases of cardiovascular disease that could be prevented by proper diet and exercise.
The list of diseases that may be modified or prevented by personal behavior is by no means endless, but neither is it limited to the one of AIDS as our President would have us believe.
SYLVAIN FRIBOURG, MD
Panorama City
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