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Merck & Company Inc. cancelled production of its AIDS vaccine after the possibility arose that it may have increased recipients' vulnerability to AIDS virus infections.

Viktor Cherkessov, the head of Russia's drug enforcement agency, said that the U.S. must do more to stop the flow of heroin from Afghanistan. Cherkessov said the U.S. is not using its full resources to stop heroin smuggling from Afghanistan.

Merck and Co. will lower the price of its Stocrin AIDS drug to under $1 (1 euro) per day in the most impoverished nations in the world. Activists approved of the price cut. However, they also believe that the cut was a publicity move by Merck.

Shionogi-GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Co., Tibotec-Virco, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Schering-Plough are all developing anti-HIV medications for fighting infection.

Discusses how science in Africa has demonstrated that HIV causes AIDS as of July 2000. Overview on the discovery of its patients with HIV; Views on the scope of the epidemic of AIDS. INSET: Testing the Test.

Reports on the treatment of AIDS patients in Uganda, Africa. Percentage of adults infected with the disease; Cost of putting all of Africa's AIDS patients into treatment; Health and social conditions of AIDS victims in the country; Comparison between Western doctors and healers. INSET: Of Patients and Pills.

Deals with the protests of AIDS activists in South Africa to urge their government to act on the control of the AIDS virus. Blunders made by the administration of President Nelson Mandela; Racial and economic implications of the Apartheid system; Activities of the organization Treatment Action Group.

Focuses on the possible role of African prostitutes in developing an HIV vaccine. Basis of the notion; Problems with other methods against AIDS; Mechanism of HIV virus.

Examines the theory that AIDS originated in African chimpanzees. Evidence of its origin; Protests of Africans on its origin; How HIV virus may have passed from animals to humans.

Discusses the AIDS prevention efforts in Zimbabwe. Criticism of the government's response to AIDS; Contribution of the Insiza Godlwayo AIDS Council to the fight against AIDS; Remarks from Alan Whiteside of the University of Natal.

Features Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a musician in Lagos, Nigeria. Purpose of his commune Kalakuta Republic; Career background of Anikulapo-Kuti; Opinion on his music; Implications of his commune's lifestyle on the spread of HIV.

Reports on the rapid increase of HIV in South Africa and its mining communities. Sex trade in the mines; Miners in East Drefontein gold mine who are HIV-positive; Comments from doctors.

Provides information on Relenza, a drug for the treatment of viral infections such as flu developed by Glaxo Wellcome. Clinical testing conducted on the drug; Application for the drug's approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration; Importance of molecular biology in developing drugs for viral infections.

Focuses on the psycho-sexual theories of psychotherapist Sigmund Freud. Information on the exhibition `Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture,' at the Library of Congress in New York; Contentions of Freud's critics; Discussion on the controversy about Prozac, a drug for treating psychological problems.

Presents a model for AIDS treatment activism. HIV Treatment Data Project (TDP) by author-activist Larry Kramer; Debate over the reliability of information provided by TDP; Web site by Lotus company designed for HIV victims.

Focuses on the 1998 World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Findings on the severe effect of HIV; System that can help control HIV virus; Treatment of the disease. INSET: The treatment gap.

Focuses on the ongoing debate over whether to report the names of all people who is tested as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive to United States health department. Comments from pro-HIV advocates; Implications of the proposed name reporting; Roles of government officials on the name reporting issue. INSET: Partner notification: The other debate.

Focuses on the concerns in gene manipulation. Narration of examples on how genetic tests and knowledge affect man's life; Discussion about the perfect-child syndrome and cloning; Use of human cloning to increase the number of organ donors.

Part VI. Reports on the research regarding the scientists' use of genes to attack everything from cancer to aging. Details on the research conducted by Jeffrey Isner, chief of vascular medicine at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston; Effect of Isner's experiment in Damian Ivanof's ailment; Significance of Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid; Gene therapy trials in the United States. INSET: The drug pharm.

Discusses deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) testing as evidence in criminal cases. Role of DNA in freeing Kevin Lee Green from jail; United States government criminal DNA data banks; Bias on the use of DNA in criminal courts. INSETS: No appeal.;The finger of god?..

Part III. Focuses on the role of genetics in tracing ancestral origins. How the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can settle questions on human history; Examples of tracing history using DNA; Comments of Fatimah Jackson, University of Maryland anthropology and biology professor on the implications of genealogy; Significance of mitochondrial DNA. INSET: Roots, DNA style..

Part I. States that in the early next century, researchers will present a complete blueprint of human DNA and along with it a multitude of potential ethical, legal and cultural crises. Bill being debated by the Congress that would forbid employers and health insurers from discriminating based on genetic information; Issues that merely touch the surface of what will arise as genetic manipulation; Fundamental concept of genetics.

Provides information on the notion of scientists that homosexuality can be genetically altered. Techniques done by scientists to alter sex; Brief account on the works done by Simon LeVay, Ronald M. Green and Dean Hamer; Findings on the genes involved in sexual orientation; Limitations on the research on sexual orientation.

Reports on the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in New York. How HIV-negative people are getting infected; Consequences due to the reinfection of HIV-positive individuals; Identified major subtypes of HIV; Terminologies and meanings used by researchers; Comments made by Carlos Maldonado of the Latino Commission on AIDS; More information. INSET: The needle nightmare..

Discusses the chances of getting HIV through fellatio. Number of HIV cases resulting from oral sex; Comment that `oral transmission of HIV may occur more often than previously recognized'; Findings that homosexual men were having unprotected oral and anal sex; Information on studies on the transmission of HIV through oral or anal sex. INSET: Wht the stats don't show..

Highlights the 11th International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver in July 1996. Number of HIV drugs to be unveiled during the conference; Subjects to be discussed; Expected level of attendance. INSET: What they don't know can hurt you, by Mark Schoofs..

Focuses on the efforts to develop a vaccine for the AIDS virus. Spending for vaccine development; Belief of researchers that a vaccine can be made; Problems with HIV; Lack of an ideal animal model; Existence of people who are resistant to the virus; Efforts of drug companies; Strict standards for vaccines. INSET: Not our job, by M.S..

Features six New York residents with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and how they would be adversely affected by proposed spending cuts in medical welfare. Marlene and Margaretha Diaz; Kenneth Williams; John DeFazio; Nadine Hunter; Louise and Kristen Rivera; Idell Gillard.

Relates several stories of homosexual couples with one partner having an HIV virus. Abandonment among `sero-discordant' couples; Pressures on the couples' relationships; Safe sex.

Focuses on the well-developed gay culture in Switzerland. Dissemination of safer sex information; Gay attraction in Zurich and Basel; Accounts on the visit of the author to the place.

Focuses on the conference on AIDS disease held in South Africa. Discussion on the problems afflicting people with AIDS in developing countries; Efforts to save the lives of people with AIDS; Comments from people who are afflicted by the disease; Drugs needed by AIDS patients.