Former Cabinet Minister HIV Positive
Discussion
Good on him for being so honest and open wonder what other PHer's are thinking.
Former minister is HIV-positive
Chris Smith says Nelson Mandela inspired him to go public
The former Labour culture secretary, Chris Smith, has revealed he has been HIV-positive for 17 years.
Mr Smith, 53, told the Sunday Times he did not tell Tony Blair about his illness when he became Britain's first openly gay Cabinet minister in 1997.
He said he decided to go public about his condition after former South African president Nelson Mandela announced his son had died of Aids.
Mr Smith was diagnosed in 1987, but did not know when he contracted the virus.
'Really worried'
"When I first heard about it, I was really worried because there was hardly any treatment," he told the paper.
I didn't feel the need to tell people as it was not in any way affecting my work
Chris Smith
But he said he was lucky to soon be put on a combination of anti-retroviral drugs that have helped him fight the illness.
Mr Smith, who is due to stand down at the next election, revealed that he was gay in 1984, a year after becoming MP for Islington South.
He said a sensible diet had also helped him maintain his health, adding: "I've also been with the National Health Service all that time."
Mr Smith was sacked in the 2001 reshuffle
Asked if he told Mr Blair about his condition, he said: "I didn't feel the need to tell people, except for a very, very few, as it was not in any way affecting my work."
Mr Smith said Mr Mandela's call for an end to the stigma surrounding Aids, made after the death of his 54-year-old son Makgatho, had prompted him to speak out.
"What Nelson Mandela said very much struck a chord with me," he said.
Mr Smith was sacked from the Cabinet after the 2001 election, following controversies over the Wembley stadium project and the lottery.
In 2003 he announced he would quit politics at the end of the current parliament.
Former minister is HIV-positive
Chris Smith says Nelson Mandela inspired him to go public
The former Labour culture secretary, Chris Smith, has revealed he has been HIV-positive for 17 years.
Mr Smith, 53, told the Sunday Times he did not tell Tony Blair about his illness when he became Britain's first openly gay Cabinet minister in 1997.
He said he decided to go public about his condition after former South African president Nelson Mandela announced his son had died of Aids.
Mr Smith was diagnosed in 1987, but did not know when he contracted the virus.
'Really worried'
"When I first heard about it, I was really worried because there was hardly any treatment," he told the paper.
I didn't feel the need to tell people as it was not in any way affecting my work
Chris Smith
But he said he was lucky to soon be put on a combination of anti-retroviral drugs that have helped him fight the illness.
Mr Smith, who is due to stand down at the next election, revealed that he was gay in 1984, a year after becoming MP for Islington South.
He said a sensible diet had also helped him maintain his health, adding: "I've also been with the National Health Service all that time."
Mr Smith was sacked in the 2001 reshuffle
Asked if he told Mr Blair about his condition, he said: "I didn't feel the need to tell people, except for a very, very few, as it was not in any way affecting my work."
Mr Smith said Mr Mandela's call for an end to the stigma surrounding Aids, made after the death of his 54-year-old son Makgatho, had prompted him to speak out.
"What Nelson Mandela said very much struck a chord with me," he said.
Mr Smith was sacked from the Cabinet after the 2001 election, following controversies over the Wembley stadium project and the lottery.
In 2003 he announced he would quit politics at the end of the current parliament.
Well - he didn't come out with it until after the majority of his political career - so its a relatively safe comment from him.
However - there is a message of hope in there as he has knowingly lived with the disease for seventeen years. Tremendous! And in that time he has held down a demanding career - even better! A triumph of medecine and determination.
The downside of such an announcement - if there is one - is that it continues to point out that there is a strong link, in our society at least, between young gay activity and the contraction of HIV. So its either a learning opportunity for Britain's young gay men or another chance for people to huff and puff about what gay people get up to...
However - there is a message of hope in there as he has knowingly lived with the disease for seventeen years. Tremendous! And in that time he has held down a demanding career - even better! A triumph of medecine and determination.
The downside of such an announcement - if there is one - is that it continues to point out that there is a strong link, in our society at least, between young gay activity and the contraction of HIV. So its either a learning opportunity for Britain's young gay men or another chance for people to huff and puff about what gay people get up to...
I've just seen the front pages of the papers today.
Well, it's certainly not "News" is it.
My definition of "News" is something that is "new". Not a 17 year old story.
Two perspectives, though:
1) The guy wants to make some money out of something in the near future - book, or something - and publicity would be useful
2) He has made a conscientious decision because of Mandela inter alia comments and believes it is correct to do things which oppose the stigmatisation of the disease
Either way, the media has it wrong. This is not "News".
Well, it's certainly not "News" is it.
My definition of "News" is something that is "new". Not a 17 year old story.
Two perspectives, though:
1) The guy wants to make some money out of something in the near future - book, or something - and publicity would be useful
2) He has made a conscientious decision because of Mandela inter alia comments and believes it is correct to do things which oppose the stigmatisation of the disease
Either way, the media has it wrong. This is not "News".
Hardcore2000 said:
on a similar subject. where do people thin this virus come from. Why has this irus only appeared in the modern world and never before? I believe it was made in a lab and deliberately INTRODUCED in the best way possible!
Viruses just appear naturally - SARS was a classic example. Don't go looking for conspiracy theories where there is just nature at work. There have been other viruses that have appeared and wiped out literally millions of people (I seem to remember something about a flu variant in Finland about 150 years ago??).
Sadly, with international travel and huge communities in very close proximity, viruses can spread much further, much faster these days. There are some Doctors who are predicting we may yet have 'the big one' that wipes out a sizeable portion of humanity. The reason for the huge SARS panic was that, when it first appeared, no-one knew how virulent or how lethal it would turn out to be. So far we've been pretty lucky.
Anyway, I'm glad to see people feeling they should talk about these things, and glad that the condition can be held at bay. It's such a pity that many fine people died before medicine caught up, and many more will yet.
Tuna said:
Viruses just appear naturally - SARS was a classic example. Don't go looking for conspiracy theories where there is just nature at work. There have been other viruses that have appeared and wiped out literally millions of people (I seem to remember something about a flu variant in Finland about 150 years ago??).
Spanish flu of 1918 killed about 50 million I think.
Grouch.
Hardcore2000 said:
I believe it was made in a lab and deliberately INTRODUCED in the best way possible!
i don't.
the virus is far too complex to be a human invention.
the reason it is important that a cure is found for AIDS is because the virus is able to fight off virtually everything that has been developed so far.
apparently AIDS shares many different facets found in other viruses. the theory goes that if you can cure AIDS, you can cure virtually every other virus known very quickly.
Hardcore2000 said:
on a similar subject. where do people thin this virus come from. Why has this irus only appeared in the modern world and never before? I believe it was made in a lab and deliberately INTRODUCED in the best way possible!
Not sure about Aids myself but I had an in depth chat with an EX-govt scientist who worked with viruses in the 60's and 70's. He was a shocking bloke to talk to, my background is science and we had an in depth chat. Very, very disturbing indeed. Science is science and government science is something else! I'm sure everyone has their perspectives on many things regarding conspiracy theories. As an aside, this guy said that he was 100% confident that the AIDS virus was "modified". He was a very credible bloke.
love machine said:
on a similar subject. where do people thin this virus come from. Why has this irus only appeared in the modern world and never before? I believe it was made in a lab and deliberately INTRODUCED in the best way possible!
Not sure about Aids myself but I had an in depth chat with an EX-govt scientist who worked with viruses in the 60's and 70's. He was a shocking bloke to talk to, my background is science and we had an in depth chat. Very, very disturbing indeed. Science is science and government science is something else! I'm sure everyone has their perspectives on many things regarding conspiracy theories. As an aside, this guy said that he was 100% confident that the AIDS virus was "modified". He was a very credible bloke.
The thing with HIV is that it is incurable and MAINLY only effects those who shag around. Not very similar to those of the past really. Maybe introduced as a population reducer in Africa but by who, i have my suspisions!
Hardcore2000 said:
on a similar subject. where do people thin this virus come from. Why has this irus only appeared in the modern world and never before? I believe it was made in a lab and deliberately INTRODUCED in the best way possible!
surely though, in the less than modern world we werent explicitly seeking out the possibility of such a virus and as such, it could have been kicking around before then but undiagnosed? i can myself see flaws in my arguments, but, the point im trying to make is that could aids not have existed for some time before its 'discovery'?
(no i havent done a huge amount of homework on the subject so sorry if this is a stupid question!)
Hardcore2000 said:
The thing with HIV is that it is incurable and MAINLY only effects those who shag around. Not very similar to those of the past really. Maybe introduced as a population reducer in Africa but by who, i have my suspisions!
Complete and utter b***ocks. My wife works in this area and I can promise you that no-one is capable of engineering a virus like this. We can't even cure the common cold for f***s sake. Even if someone could engineer a virus (and they can't), introducing a virus like AIDS for 'population control' would be complete suicide.
There are a whole load of viruses that are incurable. There are a whole load of viruses that can only be transmitted through bodily fluids, like AIDS.
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