"Health & Medical News"

Texas is the only state in the U.S. that still does not have a needle-exchange program, but one 73-year-old lay chaplain is risking arrest to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among drug users, the Los Angeles Times reported Jan. 28.

Bill Day, who has AIDS and heads the Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition, was recently arrested and faces up to a year in prison for distributing clean needles to addicts. But Day says the ban on needle-exchange programs is immoral and that he will continue his work.

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Washington — Community health centers, medical researchers and medical students would benefit from a fiscal 2008 Dept. of Health and Human Services budget passed by the Senate. But Congress must gather enough votes to override a threatened veto.

The Senate adopted a $479 billion HHS appropriations bill 75-19 on Oct. 23, easily achieving a two-thirds, veto-proof majority with the help of 29 Republicans. The House passed a similar $472 billion HHS budget in mid-July by a vote of 276-140 — short of a veto-proof level, despite the support of 53 Republicans.

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