WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1810/97 by Ernesto CACCAVALE to the Commission. AIDS controversy
22. 1. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 21/99 Is the Commission looking into ways around these problems of access when those with disabilities already face so many barriers in accessing buildings and utilizing public transport? Answer given by M. Flynn behalf of the Commission (16 July 1997) The Commission is aware of the problems which disabled people can experience in access to buildings. In its communication of 30 July 1996 on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities (1), the Commission noted the fact that many public buildings continue to be inacessible or accessible only with difficulty and further noted the benefits that ádesigned for allí and universal access can bring for many groups, including people with disabilities. Council Directive 89/654/EEC concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace (2) specifies that áworkplaces must be organised to take account of handicapped workers, if necessary. This provision applies in particular to the doors, passegeways, staircases, showers, washbasins, lavatories and work stations used or occupied directly by handicapped personsí. (1) COM(96) 406 final. (2) OJ L 393, 30. 12. 1989. (98/C 21/203) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1810/97 by Ernesto Caccavale (UPE) to the Commission (28 May 1997) Subject: AIDS controversy Many questions have been raised about AIDS by a scientific controversy involving more than 700 specialists from 23 countries including the greatest living retrovirologist, Peter Duesberg. Extensive documentation has recently been published in Italy by the well-known sexologist Luigi De Marchi and the specialist in infectious diseases Fabio Franchi ( AIDS › La grande truffaí (the big fraud), SEAM, Rome, 1997). The publications highlight unjustified alarmism and numerous conflicting opinions of most Italian and international health authorities on the subject of AIDS. The controversy questions the validity of major crucial aspects of the presentation and treatment of AIDS from discovery of the virus to definition of the illness, epidemiological prognoses, the uselessness of tests, the harmfulness of treatments and the search for an áimpossibleí vaccine. 1. 2. Is the Commission aware of these publications and the theories they expound? If so, will it inform the European Parliament and other bodies of the importance of the documentation and the claims? 3. Does it not consider it advisable to appoint a multidisciplinary committee of inquiry (not confined to virologists and infectious disease specialists) to shed light on the numerous inconsistencies concerning this plague of the second millennium? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (16 July 1997) The Commission has no knowledge of the publication mentioned and is collecting the information necessary to answer the questions put by the Honourable Member. It will let him know the results of its inquiries as soon as possible