NEEDLE EXCHANGE PLAN CLEARED FOR ALLEGHENY COUNTY

The Allegheny County Board of Health declared a state of public health
emergency for HIV infection and for blood-borne diseases yesterday, paving
the way for a needle exchange program for intravenous drug users.

The pilot program will be administered by an agency that has yet to be
chosen. Yesterday's action will make it easier for that agency to solicit
the private funds it will need to operate.

Pennsylvania prohibits the possession of nonprescribed syringes unless a
state of emergency has been declared.

"This is just a mechanism," said Dr. Roy Titchworth, board chairman. "It's
hard to ask for money when you are expecting a criminal event to occur."

The needle exchange program, which is still in the planning stage, is aimed
at reducing the spread of AIDS and hepatitis, which occurs when drug users
share contaminated needles.

The board took the unanimous action at its regular meeting after a report
from member Azizi Powell, who heads the needle exchange subcommittee.

Susanne Gollin, board vice chairman, questioned whether an emergency
existed. Powell quoted a survey conducted by Prevention Point Pittsburgh, a
nonprofit group that has run an underground needle exchange program for
several years.

The results indicated that 90 percent of intravenous drug users questioned
had hepatitis and eight percent were infected with HIV. Of 1,995 reported
AIDS cases, 451 were among intravenous drug users, she said.

Powell said the subcommittee was investigating needle exchange programs in
other cities, including Philadelphia, which has operated a successful one
for several years.

In Pittsburgh, needles could be distributed from a van that would travel to
nonresidential neighborhoods on weekends and evenings, and that would
distribute educational material and referrals to social service and drug
rehabilitation programs.

Prevention Point Pittsburgh is a likely candidate to head the pilot program.

In a report to the board, Dr. Bruce Dixon, county health director, said
recent terrorist attacks had raised interest in establishing a Pittsburgh
regional laboratory capable of testing environmental biological hazard
specimens.

The Allegheny County Health Department's work with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to examine suspicious mail and packages for anthrax
demonstrated the need for such a lab, he said. The Pennsylvania Department
of Health supports the idea, and discussions for a regional facility are
under way.

In other action, the board:

* Approved giving $54,000 from the Clean Air Fund to support the Southwest
Pennsylvania Ozone Action Partnership's public awareness television and
radio campaigns over the next two years.

* Voted to upgrade air quality regulations for commercial surface coatings
such as paints and stains to conform to state regulations, and approved
$5,000 for the Pittsburgh International Science and Technology Festival.

* Held an executive session to discuss a plan to reduce tobacco sales to
minors that Allegheny County Council would find acceptable. In March,
council rejected a plan to revoke the licenses to sell food of stores
caught selling cigarettes to minors, calling it too punitive.