AIDS ADVISERS WANT SHALALA FIRED

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton's top AIDS advisers are preparing to
vote on a resolution calling for the ouster of his health secretary in a
growing battle over needle exchanges.

A congressional moratorium on the federal funding of needle exchanges
expired Tuesday. That means communities could use federal health money to
give drug addicts clean needles as soon as Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala certifies that such programs help stop the AIDS
virus without increasing drug use.

Scientific consensus is that they do, but Shalala is still considering the
issue.

Members of the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS, which just two weeks
ago unanimously expressed no confidence in the administration's commitment
to fight AIDS, now is signaling more frustration. Members drafted a
resolution calling for Shalala's resignation; the full council will vote on
it next week.

The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, cites a ``pattern of inaction,
misrepresentation ... and broken promises'' that has ``seriously eroded the
secretary's and the administration's credibility on all AIDS prevention and
related public health matters.''

The council says 33 Americans every day catch the deadly virus through
tainted needles.

Shalala's office had no immediate comment.