--- Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Because I have not been receiving individual emails >of your postings on Goanet it has only now come to my >attention that you have been posting a series of >highly insulting, abusive and misleading postings on >Goanet about my role in suggesting that people watch >where they sit in public places. >
The above charges are false. It is very clear to everybody that Mario Goveia posted an alarmist urban legend in this forum, and then started spreading offensive lies against those of us who exposed his hoax, calling us defenders of AIDS-infected drug users and sex predators, and AIDS-infected drug users, ourselves. > >Your contention that I am prejudiced against AIDS >victims is another blatant falsehood unsupported by >anything I have said or done. > It is my contention that Mario Goveia appears to be prejudiced against AIDS victims because he attacks people he hates by calling them defenders of AIDS-infected drug users. To him this name is an instrument of verbal abuse. > >Not once have I questioned the theoretical >probability of contracting AIDS from infected needles >in public places, the sole issue that underpins your >hysterical, abusive and mean-spirited responses and >insinuations. > The hysteria, and the abusive and mean-spirited nature is revealed in Mario Goveia's alarmism and name-calling. He has repeatedly called us defenders of AIDS-infected drug users. > >Other Goanetters should ask why, if the probability >of contracting AIDS accidentally in emergency rooms >and operating rooms is as small as Santosh alleges, >are such heroic precautions routinely taken by >physicians and nurses in those settings? > As pointed out earlier, these health care professionals run a measurable risk of contracting the HIV virus from sharp instruments that have freshly come in contact with infected blood and tissues. It is irresponsible and thoughtless for anyone to equate their risk with that of ordinary people, from discarded needles in public places, as Mario Goveia has done. > >Based on Santosh's bogus standards they must all be >prejudiced against AIDS victims. > As I have said earlier, I think Mario Goveia is prejudiced against AIDS victims because he abuses his opponents in debate by calling them defenders of AIDS-infected drug users or AIDS-infected drug users, themselves. > >So, Santosh's relentless downplaying of the risks of >contracting this incurable disease is questionable >at best and dangerous at worst. > I have repeatedly presented the most reliable information I could find, which is that the risk of HIV from discarded needles in public places is extremely low. This is exactly what CDC and other responsible health agencies state. > >Back to Santosh, I continue to wonder about and >question the reasons behind the level of your hysteria >and abuse, just because I choose to defend, not the >hoax, but my suggestion that people be careful. > Mario Goveia has not defended anything. He is incapable of defending the notion that the risk of discarded needles in public places is similar to the occupational hazard faced by health care workers. All he has ever done is showered abuses on his detractors, calling them AIDS-infected drug users, revealing his prejudice against AIDS victims. > >Then you turned on Viviana and Gabriel who posted >information of actual needles being found in public >places, which the two of you are so desperately >trying to downplay as a risk or a hazard. > Vivian and Gabriel are nice people. They do not deserve to be defended by Mario Goveia, a man who abuses people on a daily basis on Goanet. In fact, Vivian has been a good friend for the last 8 years. I did not abuse Vivian and Gabriel. I merely stated my disagreement with them. I think they understood my position, and they stated their viewpoint in return. They did not call me an AIDS-infected drug user, as Mario Goveia did. > >The simple common-sense suggestion that people be >careful where they sit in a public place, whatever >its basis, seems to have personally offended both of >you, based purely on theoretical statistical >probabilities. > There is nothing commonsensical about the urban legend or the subsequent defensiveness and abuse that Mario Goveia resorted to. There is no need to raise an alarm among the general public about this issue. No public health agency has seen it necessary to do it. They have only cautioned health care workers, for whom this is an occupational hazard. Nobody has calculated a theoretical probability of getting infected with HIV by a discarded needle in a public place because there has not been a single such case since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Cheers, Santosh