There were 35 million people around the
world who have died of HIV infections
650,000 in the United States in the
early 1980s this virus emerged and it is
an extremely unusual virus one virus
that we couldn't easily grow and it is
through the products of basic science
the ability to clone DNA, the ability to
sequence DNA, the ability to express the
proteins that are encoded by the virus
genome and ultimately determine their
three-dimensional structure that led to
drugs that have now controlled that
virus since the Second World War the
federal government has been supporting
basic science very vigorously and this
has led to fundamental discoveries that
have later been applied to improve
human health and well-being but over the
past decade we have seen an erosion of
federal funding and a reduction about
twenty percent in the amount of dollars
available for basic science and this is
now threatening the leadership of the
United States but also our ability to
continue to make these discoveries your
health and in fact your very life
depends upon the advances that we are
able to make in basic research we need
your vocal advocacy.
