Stuart Creque is wrong on several counts in his diatribe against
needle exchange programs (NEPs)--"Needle Swaps Haven't Lowered Death
Rates," Letters, July 14. Mr. Creque tries to imply that dirty needles
are only killing a handful of people when the truth is that more than
40% of all new HIV-AIDS cases come from sharing needles to inject drugs.

Refusing to allow needle exchanges 10 years ago when the science first
demonstrated their effectiveness has cost us more than 200,000
infections in the heterosexual community. In fact, dirty needles are
almost totally responsible for AIDS among straight people.

The second error Mr. Creque makes is the suggestion that the San
Francisco NEPs are not successful. Despite the fact that San Francisco
has a high drug use rate, it has one of the lowest rates of pediatric
HIV-AIDS transmission in the nation.

In the past three years there has not been a single case of pediatric
HIV-AIDS transmission in San Francisco. How many cities banning clean
needles can say the same?

NEPs have been approved by virtually every medical organization in
the country. Mr. Creque ought to volunteer to help in a terminal care
hospital ward for just one day. I guarantee that his supercilious
notions about NEPs would vanish in the face of this horror.

Redford Givens
San Francisco